The Holy See (Vatican City State)

Brazil and the Holy See have maintained diplomatic relations since January 23, 1826, when Pope Leo XII received the letters of credence from Monsignor Francisco Corrêa Vidigal, who had been sent to Rome by Emperor Pedro I to advocate for the recognition of Brazil’s independence, proclaimed in 1822. In 1902, the Holy See’s diplomatic representation in Brazil was elevated to the status of a Nunciature. Brazil’s representation to the Holy See was elevated to the status of an Embassy in 1919.

Catholics make up more than 50% of the Brazilian population (2022), which leads the Holy See to consider Brazil the largest Catholic country in the world, home to the Church’s largest episcopate (more than 400 bishops, including ordinaries, auxiliaries, and emeriti). The activities of the Catholic Church in Brazil are guided by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), currently presided over by Dom Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre and Cardinal created at the December 2024 Consistory.

The bilateral agenda between Brazil and the Holy See contains a high degree of convergence on a series of issues discussed at the multilateral level. Their positions align on the defense of multilateralism, the fight against hunger and poverty, the guarantee of peace and security, climate change and the environment, a just and inclusive energy transition, disarmament and non-proliferation, human rights, migrants and refugees, the reduction of inequalities among and within countries, the prevention and combat of transnational organized crime, as well as terrorism.

In 2008, an Agreement on the Legal Status of the Catholic Church in Brazil was signed, consolidating rules for the Church’s activities in the country. The agreement’s main objective is to provide strengthened legal certainty to Brazil’s relations with the Holy See, always in accordance with the principle of the secular nature of the State. The agreement has been in force since 2010.

Brazil has already received five papal visits: three by John Paul II (1980, 1991, and 1997), one by Benedict XVI (2007), and, in July 2013, Pope Francis’ first trip outside Italy, on the occasion of the 28th World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

The year 2023 marked a new stage in the intensification of high-level visits on both sides, at the federal as well as subnational levels. In June 2023, President Lula visited the Vatican, meeting with Pope Francis and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Sostituto for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. In April 2024, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, made an official visit to Brazil, with stops in São Paulo, Brasília, and Aparecida. He was received by President Lula and held a meeting with Ambassador Celso Amorim, Special Advisor to the President of the Republic.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See maintain a mechanism for political consultations, which has convened on three occasions: (i) in September 2006, between the Director of the Europe Department, Minister Maria Edileuza Fontenele Reis, and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, at the Vatican; (ii) in October 2008, between the Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs I (SGAP I), Ambassador Everton Vieira Vargas, and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, at the Vatican; and (iii) in September 2016, between the Undersecretary-General for Multilateral Political Affairs, Europe and North America (SGEAM), Ambassador Fernando Simas Magalhães, and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, at the Vatican.

Brazil has more than forty saints who were born in or lived in the country. They are: Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz, Saint Afonso Rodrigues, and Saint  João de Castilho, martyrs of Rio Grande do Sul; Saint Antônio de Sant’Ana Galvão, born in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo; Saint Paulina do Coração Agonizante de Jesus, born in Italy; Saint José de Anchieta, born in Spain; Saint André de Soveral and companions, martyrs of Cunhaú and Uruaçu; twenty-five men and five women martyrs of Rio Grande do Norte; and Saint Dulce dos Pobres, born in Salvador, Bahia.

Mention should also be made of the case of Father Cícero, rehabilitated in a letter sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin to the Diocese of Crato, in which the biography and actions of the Brazilian priest are considered to be in line with the model of the Church advocated by Pope Francis. On August 20, 2022, during Mass, the Bishop of Crato, Dom Magnus Henrique Lopes, announced that he had received from the Vatican the nihil obstat, dated June 24, 2022, to begin the process of beatification of Father Cícero, now titled “Servant of God.” On November 30 of the same year, the diocesan phase of the process was initiated. The canonization of Brazilian saints is a significant element in the bilateral relationship, especially considering Brazil’s position as the world’s largest Catholic country.

Chronology of bilateral relations

2026 – Celebration of 200 years of diplomatic relations.
2024 – Visit of the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to Brazil (April). Second visit of Cardinal Parolin to Brazil, on the occasion of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro (November).
2023 – Visit of President Lula to the Vatican and meeting with Pope Francis (June).
2019 – Canonization of Sister Dulce (October), attended by Vice President Hamilton Mourão and other Brazilian authorities.
2019 – Working visit by Foreing Minister Ernesto Araújo to the Vatican (May 8).
2017 – Canonization ceremony of the martyrs of São Gonçalo do Amarante and Canguaretama, which increased the number of Brazilian saints from 6 to 36. The President of the Republic was represented by the Attorney General of the Union, Minister Grace Mendonça, who held a meeting with the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
2016 – Brazil–Vatican political consultations meeting (between the SGEAM and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri).
2014 – Visit of Vice President Michel Temer and Senate President Renan Calheiros to Rome to attend the canonization Mass of Father José de Anchieta, SJ (April).
2014 – President Dilma Rousseff attends, at the Vatican, the Consistory for the creation of new cardinals, including Brazilian Dom Orani Tempesta (February).
2013 – Pope Francis’s first visit to Brazil, on the occasion of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro (July).
2013 – President Dilma Rousseff’s first visit to the Vatican to attend Pope Francis’s Inaugural Mass (March).
2012 – Visit of Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota to the Vatican (October 17).
2008 – Second visit of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the Vatican. Signing of the Agreement on the Legal Status of the Catholic Church in Brazil (November).
2008 – Political consultations meeting between the Undersecretary for Political Affairs I, Ambassador Everton Vieira Vargas, and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Pietro Parolin (October).
2007 – Pope Benedict XVI visits Brazil and opens the proceedings of the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council.
2005 – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first visit to the Vatican to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2000 – Visit of the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to Brazil.
1997 – John Paul II’s third trip to Brazil, in the context of the 2nd World Meeting of Families in Rio de Janeiro.
1997 – President Fernando Henrique Cardoso makes the first State Visit of a Brazilian President to the Holy See.
1991 – John Paul II’s second trip to Brazil.
1990 – Visit of President Fernando Collor to Pope John Paul II.
1986 – Visit of President José Sarney to Pope John Paul II.
1985 – President-elect Tancredo Neves visits Pope John Paul II.
1980 – John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Brazil.
1934 – First visit of a Holy See Secretary of State to Brazil, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII.
1919 – Brazil’s representation to the Holy See is elevated to the level of an Embassy.
1905 – The Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Dom Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, becomes the first Brazilian and Latin American to be created Cardinal.
1891 – The first republican Constitution establishes the separation between Church and State and religious freedom.
1872–1875 – The “Religious Question,” involving the power to appoint bishops, strains relations between the Church and the Empire.
1862 – Agreement on Apostolic Missions among Indigenous Peoples, via exchange of notes dated October 28.
1826 – Monsignor Francisco Corrêa Vidigal, Plenipotentiary sent by Dom Pedro I, presents his letters of credence to Pope Leo XII.
1824 – The first Brazilian Constitution formalizes the Padroado regime, under which Catholicism becomes the official religion of the Empire.