Religion in Portugal

Christianity is the predominant religion in Portugal, with Catholicism being its largest denomination.

Portugal is a secular state and its constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

Overview

According to the 2021 Census, 80.2% of the population of Portugal is Catholic, though in 2001 only about 19% attended Mass and took the sacraments regularly, while a larger number wish to have their children baptized, be married in a church, and receive Last Rites.

Portugal is one of the most religious countries in Europe, most Portuguese believe with certainty in the existence of God and religion is important in their lives. According to the Pew Research Center Portugal is the 9th most religious country out of 34 European countries, 40% of Portuguese Catholics pray daily, and 36% say religion is very important in their lives.

Although Church and State are formally separated since 1911, the Roman Catholic precepts continue to have a significant bearing in Portuguese society and culture. The educational and health care systems were for a long time the Church's preserve, and in many cases, whenever a building, bridge, or highway was opened, it received a blessing from the clergy. The Catholic Church in Portugal is also afforded certain rights and privileges in the country's law.

Demographics

According to the 2021 Census, 80.2% of the population aged 15 and older is Catholic, a figure very similar to that recorded in the 2011 Census, when 81.0% selected Catholicism as their religion. About 5% adhere to other forms of Christianity, with 2.1% being Protestant, 0.7% Jehovah's Witnesses, 0.7% Orthodox, and 1% members of other Christian churches. Just over 1% indicated belonging to non-Christian religions, with 0.4% being Muslim, 0.2% Hindu, 0.2% Buddhist and 0.3% members of other religions. 14% indicated not having any religion.

Census data show some regional differences. Catholicism is strongest in the Azores (91.6%), Madeira (90.9%) and the North region (88.1%). On the other hand, the Setúbal Peninsula (65.3%) and the Algarve (65.9%) have the lowest percentages. It is in the Setúbal Peninsula, the Greater Lisbon and the Algarve that the highest proportions of members of other Christian churches, of other religions and of people without religious affiliation are found. Members of other Christian religions make up more than 10% of the Algarve's population. In the Greater Lisbon and in the Algarve more than 2% of the population follow non-Christian religions and the percentage of the non-religious population varies between around 6% in the Azores and Madeira and 25.6% in the Setúbal Peninsula.

In 124 of the 308 municipalities, over 90% of the population indicated being Catholic in the 2021 Census. The municipalities with the highest percentages are Mesão Frio (97.0%), Ribeira de Pena (96.5%), Resende (96.4%) and Baião (96.3%) in the North region, and Vila Franca do Campo (96.3%) in the Azores. The least Catholic municipalities are located in the Algarve and on the Alentejo coast with Lagos (55.2%), Vila do Bispo (56.1%), Sines (56.2%), Aljezur (56.3%) and Odemira (56.7%) with the lowest percentages . The municipalities with the highest proportions of members of other Christian denominations are Lagos (14.3%), Albufeira (13.2%), Portimão (12.7%), Loulé (11.3%) and São Brás de Alportel (11.0%), all in the Algarve. The municipalities with the highest proportion of followers of non-Christian religions are Odemira (16.5%), Albufeira (4.1%), Lisbon (3.9%), Odivelas (3.4%) and Amadora (3.2%), in the Alentejo, Algarve and Greater Lisbon regions. With regard to the non-religious population, the highest percentages are registered in parts of the Alentejo and the Algarve with Sines (35.5%), Vila do Bispo (33.7%), Grândola (31.7%), Aljezur (31.5%) and Aljustrel (31.4%) recording the highest percentages. In 15 municipalities more than a quarter of the population is not religious. On the other hand, in 74 municipalities this percentage is less than 5%.

There is a very considerable difference in terms of religious composition between the inhabitants with Portuguese nationality and the foreign population residing in the country, which makes up 5.2% of the total population. 82.6% of residents of Portuguese nationality are Catholic, while only 36.4% of foreigners identify with the Catholic Church. Just over 3% of Portuguese nationals belong to other Christian denominations, a percentage that approaches 30% among foreign residents. Only 0.6% of residents of Portuguese nationality reported belonging to non-Christian religions, with this percentage being 12.3% among foreigners. As for the population without religious affiliation, the percentage is 13.7% among residents born in Portugal and 21.5% among residents born abroad.

Statistics Portugal made available, in November 2023, an anonymized microdata file for public use with a sample of 5% of the responses to the 2021 Census. The question on religion had a very high response rate, of 97.5%.These data show that the percentage of Catholics is higher among women (83.1%) than men (76.8%). On the other hand, the percentage of unaffiliated it is higher among men (17.8%) than women (10.9%). There are no relevant differences between genders regarding the affiliation to other Christian denominations and to non-Christian religions.

The same microdata file shows that older generations are more religious. The percentage of Catholics varies between 66.9% among the population aged 25–34 and 91.7% among those over 75 years old. It is among younger people that the highest percentages of members of other Christian churches and other religions are found.

The sample of responses to the Census shows that it is among the population with basic levels of education (1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles of education) that the highest percentage of Catholics is found (86.6%). On the other hand, the lowest percentage of members of the Catholic Church is found among residents with post-secondary education (68.2%). It is at this level of education that the highest percentage of adherents of other Christian churches is found (8.6%). Regarding the unaffiliated, the biggest percentage is found among the population with higher levels of education (23.0%).

Catholicism is strongest in the rural areas of the country, where 87.0% of residents claimed to belong to this denomination. In urban areas, the percentage of Catholics is 75.9%. In the urban areas there are higher percentages of members of other Christian denominations, of other religions and non-religious people.

History

As in most provinces of the Roman Empire, the religious beliefs and deities of the Pre-Roman populations mingled and coexisted with Roman mythology. In the Portuguese case, those Pre-Roman religions were basically Proto-Celtic or Celtic, chief amongst them that of the Lusitanians (see '' Lusitanian mythology'').

Jewish populations have existed in the area, going back to the Roman era or even before that, and are directly related to Sephardi history.

The Roman Provinces of Lusitania (comprising most of Portugal south of the Douro river) and of Gallaecia (north of the Douro river) were first Christianized while part of the Roman Empire. During this period, Bracara Augusta (the modern city of Braga) became one of the most important episcopal centres, alongside Santiago de Compostela. Christianity was solidified when the Suevi and the Visigoths—Germanic tribes already Christianized—came into the Iberian Peninsula in the fifth century.

Early Visigoths followed the Arian heresy, but they joined Roman mainstream after the eighth century. The city of Braga played an important role in the religious history of the period, namely during the renunciation of the Arian and Priscillianist heresies. Two synods were held in Braga in the sixth century, marking the origin of its ecclesiastical significance. The Archbishops of Braga retains the title of Primate of Portugal, and long claimed supremacy over the whole of the churches of Hispania.

Braga had an important role in the Christianization of the whole Iberian Peninsula. The first known bishop of Braga, Paternus, lived during the end of the fourth century, although Saint Ovidius (d. 135 AD) is sometimes considered one of the first bishops of this city. In the early fifth century, Paulus Orosius, a friend of Saint Augustine, born in Braga, wrote several theological and historical works of great importance. In the sixth century, another influential figure was Saint Martin of Braga, a bishop of Braga who converted the Suevi from Arianism to Catholicism. He also founded an important monastery near Braga, in Dumio (''Dume''), now an archaeological site. Several Ecumenical Councils were held in Braga during this period, a sign of the religious importance of the city.

Christianity saw its importance diminish in southern Portugal during Moorish rule in the Al-Andalus period, beginning in 711 with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, even if most of the population still followed Christianity according to the Mozarabic Rite. In the north, however, Christianity provided the cultural and religious cement that helped hold Portugal together as a distinctive entity, at least since the reconquest of Porto in 868 by Vímara Peres, the founder of the First County of Portugal. By the same token, Christianity was the rallying cry of those who rose up against the Moors and sought to drive them out. Hence, Christianity and the Catholic Church pre-dated the establishment of the Portuguese nation, a point that shaped relations between the two.

Under Afonso Henriques (r. 1139–1185), the first king of Portugal and the founder of the Portuguese Kingdom, church and state were unified into a lasting and mutually beneficial partnership. To secure papal recognition of his country, Afonso declared Portugal a vassal state of the Pope, and was as such recognized in 1179 through the papal bull '' Manifestis Probatum''. The King found the Church to be a useful ally as he drove the Moors towards the South. For its support of his policies, Afonso richly rewarded the Church by granting it vast lands and privileges in the conquered territories. The Church became the country's largest landowner, and its power came to be equal to that of the nobility, the military orders, and even, for a time, the Crown. But Afonso also asserted his supremacy over the Church, a supremacy that — with various ups and downs — was maintained.

Although relations between the Portuguese State and the Catholic Church were generally amiable and stable, their relative power fluctuated. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Church enjoyed both riches and power stemming from its role in the reconquest and its close identification with early Portuguese nationalism. For a time, the Church's position vis-à-vis the State diminished until the growth of the Portuguese Overseas Empire made its missionaries important agents of colonization (see, for example, ''Kingdom of Kongo'').

Until the 15th century, some Jews occupied prominent places in Portuguese political and economical life. For example, Isaac Abrabanel was the treasurer of King Afonso V of Portugal. Many also had an active role in the Portuguese culture, and they kept their reputation of diplomats and merchants. By this time, Lisbon and Évora were home to important Jewish communities.
In 1497, reflecting events that had occurred five years earlier in Spain, Portugal expelled the Jews and the few remaining Moors — or forced them to convert. In 1536, the Pope gave King João III (r. 1521–1557) permission to establish the Portuguese Inquisition to enforce the purity of the faith. Earlier, the country had been rather tolerant, but now orthodoxy and intolerance reigned. The Jesuit Order was placed in charge of all education.

In the 18th century, anti-Church sentiment became strong. The Marquês de Pombal (r. 1750–1777) expelled the Jesuits in 1759, broke relations with the Holy See in Rome, and brought education under the State's control. Pombal was eventually removed from his office, and many of his reforms were undone, but anti-clericalism remained a force in Portuguese society. In 1821, the Inquisition was abolished, religious orders were banned, and the Church lost much of its property. Relations between Church and State improved in the second half of the 19th century, but a new wave of anti-clericalism emerged with the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic in 1910. Not only were Church properties seized and education secularized, but the Republic went so far as to ban the ringing of church bells, the wearing of clerical garb on the streets, and the holding of many popular religious festivals. With the outbreak of the First World War the Portuguese First Republic viewed it as a unique opportunity to achieve a number of goals: putting an end to the twin threats of a Spanish invasion of Portugal and of foreign occupation of the colonies and, at the internal level, creating a national consensus around the regime. These domestic objectives were not met and the armed forces, whose political awareness had grown during the war, and whose leaders had not forgiven the regime for sending them to a war they did not want to fight, seemed to represent, to conservative forces, the last bastion of "order" against the "chaos" that was taking over the country. By the mid-1920s the domestic and international scenes began to favour an authoritarian solution, wherein a strengthened executive might restore political and social order.

''Estado Novo''

Under the ''Estado Novo'', the corporatist totalitarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar (r. 1932–1968), the Church experienced a revival. Salazar was himself deeply religious and infused with Catholic precepts. Before studying law, he had been a seminarian; his roommate at the University of Coimbra, Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira, later became Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. In addition, Salazar's corporatist principles and his constitution and labour statute of 1933 were infused with Roman Catholic precepts from the papal encyclicals ''Rerum novarum'' (1891) and ''Quadragesimo anno'' (1931).

Salazar's state claimed to base itself on the principles of traditional Roman Catholicism, with an emphasis on order, discipline, and authority. Class relations were supposedly based on harmony rather than the Marxist concept of conflict. The family, the parish, and Christianity were said to be the foundations of the State. Salazar went considerably beyond these principles, however, and established a full-fledged dictatorship. His corporate government, in the opinion of some, contained about equal blends of Roman Catholic principles and Benito Mussolini-like fascism.

In 1940, a ''Concordat

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