Christianity in Brazil: History and Faith Today

Brazil is one of the most Christian countries on earth. More than eight in ten Brazilians identify as Christian, and the country's religious life shapes its festivals, its music, its politics, and its daily rhythms. But the story of Christianity in Brazil is not a single story. It is a story of change: a Catholic country for four centuries that is now home to one of the largest and fastest-growing evangelical movements in the world.

How Christianity Arrived in Brazil

Christianity arrived in Brazil with the Portuguese. When Portugal claimed the land in 1500, Catholic missionaries came with the colonists, and the Jesuits, who arrived in 1549, built missions, schools, and churches across the new colony. For the indigenous peoples and, later, the millions of enslaved Africans brought to Brazil, the encounter with Christianity was bound up with colonisation — often forced, often painful, and yet real faith took root and grew in ways the missionaries did not control.

By the time Brazil became independent in 1822, Catholicism was woven into the nation's identity. For more than 400 years it was the only officially recognised religion, and the Church ran much of the country's education and social life. The first census in 1872 found that 99.7% of Brazilians identified as Catholic — a figure that held, in broad terms, for another century.

Separation of Church and State

The break came with the republic. The Constitution of 1891 ended Catholicism's status as the state religion and made Brazil officially secular, guaranteeing freedom of religion. The Catholic Church remained powerful for decades, but the legal change opened the door to other churches. The change accelerated after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, when the Catholic Church in Brazil embraced social engagement, and movements like the base ecclesial communities brought faith into neighbourhoods and villages.

The Rise of Evangelical Christianity

The great shift of recent decades is the growth of evangelical Protestantism. The 1991 census found Protestants making up about 9% of the population. By 2010 the figure had reached 21.6%, and the 2022 census put it at 26.9% — more than one in four Brazilians, around 47.4 million people. The largest denomination, the Assemblies of God, has over 12 million members, and evangelical churches now shape Brazilian music, television, and politics. The growth has been fastest among the young and in the North and Northeast. In two states, Acre and Roraima, evangelicals are already the majority.

Catholic Brazil Today

Catholicism remains Brazil's largest religion. The 2022 census, published by the Brazilian statistics agency IBGE in June 2025, found 56.7% of Brazilians identifying as Catholic — about 100.2 million people, down from 65.1% in 2010. Catholicism is strongest in the Northeast, where 63.9% identify as Catholic, and its great symbols remain central to Brazilian life: the feast of Our Lady of Aparecida on 12 October, a national holiday honouring the country's patron saint, whose statue was found by fishermen in the Paraíba river in 1717; and Christ the Redeemer, the statue above Rio de Janeiro that has become the symbol of Brazil itself.

Christmas and Easter are still the year's great festivals. In Brazil, Christmas is a summer holiday, and families gather for a late dinner on Christmas Eve before attending midnight Mass — you can read more in our guide to Christmas traditions around the world. Holy Week is kept with processions and Passion plays in towns across the country, as described in our guide to how Christians celebrate Easter around the world.

A Richer Religious Landscape

Brazil's religious landscape today is more varied than ever. Alongside Catholics and evangelicals, about 9.3% of Brazilians say they have no religion, and around 1.8% follow Spiritism, the teaching of Allan Kardec. Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda, shaped by the faith of enslaved Africans, are practised openly and are recognised as part of the country's heritage. What is striking is how much these traditions mix. Many Brazilians move between them, and Brazilian Christianity carries the marks of African and indigenous influence in its music, its festivals, and its devotion.

For readers who want to understand the faith at the heart of all this, our guide on what faith means explains the trust that Christians describe, and Psalm 23 is one of the passages Brazilian Christians turn to most often in hard times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Brazil still a Catholic country?

Mostly, yes, but less so than before. The 2022 census found 56.7% of Brazilians identifying as Catholic, down from 65.1% in 2010 and 99.7% in 1872. Catholicism remains the largest religion, but evangelical Christianity and no religion have both grown steadily.

How many evangelicals are there in Brazil?

According to the 2022 census, 26.9% of Brazilians — about 47.4 million people — identify as evangelical Christians, up from 21.6% in 2010. The Assemblies of God is the largest evangelical denomination, with over 12 million members.

Who is Our Lady of Aparecida?

Our Lady of Aparecida is the patron saint of Brazil. According to tradition, fishermen found a statue of the Virgin Mary in the Paraíba river in 1717, and the site became a place of pilgrimage. Her feast day, 12 October, is a national holiday.

When did Brazil become secular?

Brazil became officially secular with the first republican Constitution in 1891, which ended Catholicism's status as the state religion and guaranteed freedom of worship. The Catholic Church remained politically influential for decades afterwards.