Protestants grow in clout in Brazil

Roman Catholics are scrambling to shore up support among the faithful in Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country, amid a growing tide of conversions to Protestantism.

Out of a Brazilian population of 191 million, 123.2 million define themselves as Catholics, more than any other country in the world.

But census figures highlight decades of decline in the ranks of Catholics here, who in 1970 were almost 92 percent of the population, but by 2000 comprised just 74 percent and today account for a mere 64.6 percent, according to 2010 census data.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Protestant evangelicals has soared by 42.3 million - a figure equivalent to the entire population of Chile - increasing in the decade between 2000 and 2010 from 15.4 percent of Brazil's population to 22.2 percent. Read more