The predominant religion in Brazil is Christianity, with Catholicism being its largest denomination.
In 1891, when the first Brazilian Republican Constitution was set forth, Brazil ceased to have an official religion and has remained secular ever since, though the Catholic Church remained politically influential into the 1970s. The constitution of Brazil guarantees freedom of religion and strongly prohibits the establishment of any religion by banning government support or hindrance of religion at all levels.
Overview
Brazil possesses a richly spiritual society formed from the meeting of the Catholic Church with the religious traditions of enslaved Africans and indigenous people. This confluence of faiths during the Portuguese colonization of Brazil led to the development of a diverse array of syncretistic practices within the overarching umbrella of Brazilian Catholicism, characterized by traditional Portuguese festivities. Until recently, Catholicism was overwhelmingly dominant. Changes in the 21st century have led to a growth in secularism (no religious affiliation) and to Evangelical Protestantism. The 2022 census indicates that around 57% of Brazilians consider themselves Catholic, down from 90% in 1970. Despite falling in most of the country, Catholicism remains strong in most of the Northeast. Some analysts have projected Protestants to possibly outnumber Catholics around 2030, with the Catholic Church membership dropping to 38.6%, the Protestant membership in hundreds of independent denominations rising to 39.8%, and the non-Christian population (including the non-affiliated) rising to over 20%. Others have noted a slowing pace in the growth of Protestantism.
In the 2022 census, 56.75% of the population declared themselves as Catholic, 26.85% as Protestant, 9.28% as non-religious, and 6.9% as followers of other religions (mostly Spiritists or Kardecists who follow the doctrines of Allan Kardec, Umbandists, Candomblers, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and minorities of Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and other groups). In ARDA's 2020 study, Spiritists were the second-largest religion practiced among the Brazilian population at 4.83%. Other religions also includes the Baha'i Faith, Buddhism, Chinese folk religions, Afro-Brazilian religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and new religious movements.
Brazilian religions are very diversified and inclined to syncretism, with exception to most Protestants. In recent decades, there has been a great increase of Neo-Pentecostal churches and in Afro-Brazilian religions, which had decreased the number of members of the Roman Catholic Church as of 2000. The number of Umbandists and Candomblers could be significantly higher than the official census figure since many of them continue to this day to disguise their religion under "Catholic" syncretism. About 90% of Brazilians declared some sort of religious affiliation as of 2004.
Religious intolerance is a crime in Brazil, and several laws ensure freedom of worship and protection for those who profess their faith. The Federal Constitution of 1988 (Arti.5, Clause IV) guarantees that "freedom of conscience and belief is inviolable, ensuring the free exercise of religious cults and guaranteeing, in accordance with the law, the protection of places of worship and their liturgies." As of 2024, however, Evangelical Protestant and Charismatic religious intolerance against non-Evangelicals has grown. Evangelical Protestants, specifically, have also been reported as most intolerant in Brazil.
The Brazilian Penal Code (Decree-Law 2,848/1940), establishes as a crime the act of "publicly mock[ing] someone based on their beliefs or religious function, stop[ping] or disturb[ing] a religious ceremony or practice, or publicly disrespect[ing] acts or objects of religious worship." The penalty for these acts is imprisonment for one month to one year or a fine. Law n. 14.532/2023 added paragraph three to Article 140 of the Penal Code, which determines that, in the case of the crime of insult, if it consists of elements related to religion or the condition of an elderly or disabled person, the penalty for the crime will be imprisonment for one to three years and a fine.
Christianity
Catholicism
Brazil has the largest number of Catholics in the world. Catholicism has been Brazil's main religion since the beginning of the 16th century. It was introduced among the Native Brazilians by Jesuit missionaries during colonial times, there was no freedom of religion. All Portuguese settlers and Brazilians were compulsorily bound to the Catholic faith and were bound to pay tithes to the church. After Brazilian independence, the first constitution introduced freedom of religion in 1824, but Catholicism was kept as the official religion. The Imperial Brazilian government paid a salary to Catholic priests and influenced the appointment of bishops. The political-administrative division of the municipalities accompanied the hierarchical division of the bishoprics in "freguesias" (parishes). There were also some hindrances to the construction of temples and cemeteries that belonged to the Catholic Church. The first Republican Constitution in 1891 separated religion from state and made all religions equal in the Codes of Law, but the Catholic Church remained very influential until the 1970s. For example, due to the strong opposition of the Catholic Church, divorce was not allowed in Brazil until 1977 even if a separated couple observed a different religion.
The Catholic faith practiced in Brazil is full of popular festivities rooted in centuries-old Portuguese traditions, but also heavily influenced by African and Native Brazilian usage. Popular traditions include pilgrimages to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida (Nossa Senhora Aparecida), the patron saint of Brazil, and religious festivals like the "Círio de Nazaré" in Belém and the "Festa do Divino" in many cities of Central Brazil. Areas that received many European immigrants in the last century, especially Italian and German, have Catholic traditions closer to that practiced in Europe.
As of 2008, the largest proportion of Catholics is concentrated in the Northeast (59%) and South (53%) regions. The smallest proportion of Catholics is found in the Center-West region (49%). The State of Piauí has the largest proportion of Catholics (85%) and the State of Rio de Janeiro has the smallest one (45.19%). Among the state capitals, Teresina has the largest proportion of Catholics in the country (86.010%), followed by Aracaju, Fortaleza, Florianópolis and João Pessoa.
Alternatively, in the 20th century, former Catholic bishop Carlos Duarte Costa founded the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church after disagreements with clerical celibacy and other doctrines.
Protestantism
Protestantism in Brazil largely originated with American missionaries in the second half of the 19th century, following up on efforts that began in the 1830s. Evangelical Protestantism and Pentecostalism have grown very rapidly in Brazil since the 20th century, with American religio-political missionary influence, funded by American businesspeople, religious leaders, denominations, politicians, and the CIA. The 2010 census reported that 22.2% of the Brazilian population was Protestant, or about 44 million people. Brazil has many versions of Protestantism. These include neo-Pentecostals, old Pentecostals, and Traditional Protestants (most of them Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists) predominantly from Minas Gerais to the South. The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, part of the Anglican Communion, has some 120,000 members. Centers of neo-Pentecostalism are Londrina in Paraná state, as well the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais), especially the suburban and nearby areas of these cities. Lutherans are concentrated mostly in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and in countryside regions of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo.
As of the year 2000, the largest proportion of Protestants was found in North (19.8%), Central-West (18.9%) and Southeast (17.5%) regions. Among the state capitals, Rio de Janeiro has the largest proportion of non-Pentecostal Protestants in the country (10.07%), followed by Vitória, Porto Velho, Cuiabá and Manaus. But Goiânia is the state capital with the largest proportion of Pentecostal Protestants in the country (20.41%), followed by Boa Vista, Porto Velho, Belém and Belo Horizonte. A 2023 IPSOS survey found that 38% of Brazilians identified as Catholic and 29% as Protestant, and a 2020 ARDA survey estimated that 70.57% of its population was Catholic and 15.12% Protestant.
While Catholicism was politically dominant before the secularization of Brazil, Protestants have been involved in influencing Brazilian and international politics; Evangelical Protestant influence has also been implicated in the attempted 2022 Bolsonarist coup. Following Bolsonaro's 2024 indictment, the country's Evangelical Caucus threatened a reactionary response. Overall, Evangelicals, like their Catholic counterparts, began reconsidering religion as a political factor in elections as of 2025, though some have continued efforts to influence Brazilian society into 2026.
Eastern Orthodoxy
The Eastern Orthodox Church is also present in Brazil. Among the canonical churches in the country are the:
Antiochian Orthodox Church Polish Orthodox Church Serbian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church Ecumenical Patriarchate (and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Diaspora)
The Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, located in São Paulo, is the See of the Archdiocese of the Church of Antioch in São Paulo. It is an example of Byzantine architecture that can be appreciated in South America. Its construction, which began in the 1940s, was inspired by the Basilica of Hagia Sophia of Istanbul and was inaugurated in January 1954. According to IBGE, there were 131,571 Orthodox Christians in Brazil.
Oriental Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy in Brazil comprises the Armenian Apostolic Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Syriac Orthodox Church, and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. These communities largely developed through immigration from the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Africa between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the context of the decline of the Ottoman Empire collapse and related regional upheavals. They are primarily concentrated in the state of São Paulo, where they have established parishes and ecclesiastical jurisdictions serving both immigrant populations and converts.
Jehovah's Witnesses In 2022, according to the denomination, Brazil had 909,879 Jehovah's Witnesses with 12,439 congregations and a ratio of 1 Witness to 238 residents.2022 Service Year Report of Jehovah’s Witnesses Worldwide However, the 2010 census reported nearly 1.4 million people listed themselves as members.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Latter Day Saint movement arrived in Brazil in 1913 through German immigrants, but proselytizing efforts only began in 1929. The LDS Church, the largest church in the movement, is the fastest-growing church in Brazil in terms of membership. According to the religious institution's records, it has about 1.5 million members, making Brazil the third country in the world with the most members, behind only the United States and Mexico. As of 2024, the church had 36 missions, 2,172 congregations, 21 temples, and 524 Family History Centers.