Brazil's strong Catholic heritage can be traced to the Iberian missionary zeal, with the 15th-century goal of spreading Christianity.

[16] In the late 20th century the Church's liberation theology movement, which focuses on the poor as the primary recipients of Christ's message, helped in the quest for social justice.

[18] The church organized ecclesiastical base communities throughout the country to work for social and political causes at the local level.

[9] Despite the support of the higher clergy for the military, the progressive wing managed to make the Church practically the only legitimate focus of resistance and defense of basic human rights during military rule,[9] as well as a main advocate[19] for social rights and human dignity in the Constitutional Assembly of 1987–1988.

When then Cardinal Ratzinger became responsible for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he launched a successful campaign against the liberation theology,[18] and the conservative wing of the Church gained power.

[9] According to Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, “pentecostalism no longer is something confined outside the Catholic Church, it is now firmly within the form of various charismatic tendencies and movements”.

[21] According to a 2007 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, more than 60 percent of the urban population of Brazil claims a Catholic affiliation.

[24] According to America Magazine in 2003, Brazilian Catholics have the highest score in the world on the image of God as a loving Father.

In the late 18th century, Portuguese minister Marquis of Pombal attacked and expelled the Jesuits from Portugal and its overseas possessions.

[28] In 1969, the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo became the first higher education institute in Brazil to offer a post-graduation course.

[29] In Brazil, there are a total of 275 particular churches—consisting of 44 archdioceses, 216 dioceses (2 of which are Eastern rite eparchies under Latin jurisdiction), 9 territorial prelatures, the Archeparchy of São João Batista em Curitiba and the Eparchy of Imaculada Conceição in Prudentópolis under the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Armenian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Latin America and Mexico, the Ordinariate for the Faithful of Eastern Rites in Brazil, the Military Ordinariate of Brazil, and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney.