[citation needed] The first meetings of the LDS Church in Portugal were among members of U.S. armed forces stationed in the country in early 1970.

In April 1974, the mostly peaceful Carnation Revolution brought an end to decades of authoritarian rule that had formally promoted Roman Catholicism and had restricted other faiths from proselyting.

Several weeks after the fall of this Estado Novo regime, church president Spencer W. Kimball visited Portugal and received confirmation that the LDS Church would be recognized and that the missionaries could start preaching in the country.

The first official meetings of the LDS Church were held at the home of a member of the Canadian embassy who lived in Portugal.

The church's growth has steadily progressed since that time; at year-end 2016, more than 38,000 Mormons live in Portugal, organized in dozens of local congregations known as wards and branches.