History of Roman Catholicism in Portugal

The Catholic Church in Portugal is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The Catholic Church is the world's largest Christian organisation. It is Portugal's largest religion and its former state religion, and has existed in the territory since the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by the Roman Empire.

There are an estimated nine million baptised Catholics in Portugal (84% of the population), in twenty dioceses, served by 2789 priests. 19% of the national population attend mass and take the sacraments regularly (although a larger number wish to be baptized, married in the church, and receive last rites).

In 2010, the average age of priests was 62. In 2012 88% of Portuguese population are Roman Catholic.

Roman Catholicism was introduced to what is now Portugal under the Roman Empire in the first half of the first millennium AD. The modern Portuguese state was founded in 1139 by Afonso Henriques during the Reconquista, in which the Catholic kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula reconquered the South from the Islamic Moors. Crusaders from other Catholic realms aided the reconquest, which Portugal finished in 1249.

Exploration and the creation of the Portuguese Empire from the early 15th century onward spread Catholicism to Portuguese colonies in Africa, Asia and South America. The Lusophone countries of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé e Principe and Timor-Leste all have Catholic majorities as a result. The state of Goa, India, was also part of the Portuguese Empire and a large Goan Catholic minority remains.

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