Although a large number wish to be baptized, married in the church, and receive last rites, only 19% of the national population attend Mass and take the sacraments regularly.

The present-day Portuguese state was founded in 1139 by King Afonso Henriques during the Reconquista, in which the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula reconquered the South from the Cordoba Caliphate of the Sunni Muslim Moors.

The Lusophone countries of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste all have Catholic majorities as a result.

[6] In 2021 the Portuguese Catholic Bishops' Conference established an independent committee for the investigation of any sexual abuse of minors within the Portuguese church, the Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse of Children in the Catholic Church in Portugal began its work in January 2022 and issued its final report in February 2023.

[7][8] The commission was led by child psychologist Pedro Strecht who headed a 'multidisciplinary and gender-balanced' investigative panel which sought participation from members of the public who had experienced abuse in institutions run by the Church, such as parishes, schools, orphanages or hospitals, or who had otherwise been abused at the hands of a minister or employee of the Church.

[11] Commission president Strecht extrapolated that the figure of victims likely stood at around 5000 individuals, and further proposed that as many 100 priests in active ministry as of February 2023 had been credibly accused of abuse.

A Portuguese saying which lists characteristics of different cities states that "Coimbra studies, Braga prays, Lisbon shows off and Porto works".