Stop church area losing hearts (6)

I believe the answer is:

cancel

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'stop church' is the definition.
'cancel' can be an answer for 'stop' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'church' bit.

'area losing hearts' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'can' (can is a kind of area).
'losing hearts' becomes 'cel' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'can'+'cel'='CANCEL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cancel that I've seen before include "Call off (arranged event)" , "Go for an annulment" , "Cross out or abolish" , "Officially prevent happening" , "Strike out" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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