Country has recently been falling in the number of Christians after a decade, while Catholic Church reports increased converts
The American Robert Francis Prevost, 69, (8.MAI.2025) The new Pope. Adopted the name of Leo 14.
PREVOST will command the Catholic Church at a time of apparent advance of Catholicism in the United States. Dioceses in the country report increased converts in recent years.
Recent research meets this data by showing that the number of US Christians stabilized after more than a decade falling.
The highlight that the Pope will have in the media and even any measures he can take in the coming days can influence this trend, strengthening religion in the country.
In 2007, at the beginning of the historical series, the rate of adult Americans who say they believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God was 78%. This number was slowly falling until it reached 63% in 2019 – in the same reduction of 15 percentage points in 12 years.
During and after the pandemic, US Christians only ran from 60% to 64% with a slight high trend. The same stability was observed in the group that says it has no religion. This is a (PDF – 10 MB).
One of the explanations raised for the current scenario of stability among Christians is a greater demand for Catholicism that would not have been fully captured by major research. Reports published in US media indicate a rise in the search for the Catholic Church in recent years and months.
The newspaper specializing in Catholic religion National Catholic Register which dioceses in the country claimed to have recorded fuller masses than usual in this year’s Easter.
Initial conversions data in the 2025 Lent period also had “Strong growth”repeating a movement already observed in the previous year, according to the churches and whose consolidated numbers should come out in the coming months.
This trend of greater demand for Catholic institutions has been helping religion not to diminish in size (as it was happening in recent years), but it still does not seem enough to make the number of faithful grow with this belief consistently.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER information show that 19% of US adults said they were Catholic in 2024. This portion of the population has been stable at this level since 2014, even when other religions were still registering setbacks.
Unlike Brazil, Catholics are only the 2nd largest religion in the United States. They are behind the Protestants, who were 40% in 2024 – a centered center that stabilized from 2019, but had a trajectory of fall in most of the past decade. In 2007, there were 51% Americans who identified with this religion.
The concept of Protestants in the US includes evangelicals as we know in Brazil and other congregations more linked to this ideology, such as historically Black Protestant Churches (historically black Protestant churches), led and predominantly frequented by African Americans, and other more traditional churches.
Despite the stability among Americans who claim to be Christians, a given religious worries and can be a hindrance to stop the removal of the American population of churches and temples once and for all: the variation of belief recorded between generations.
Of the elderly at 75 years or older, 80% say they are Christians. In the age group of 65 to 74 years this rate is 75%, and drops sharply according to each group is younger.
Among those who are 18 to 24 years old, for example, only 46% say they are Christians. This percentage is identical among those who are 25 to 34 years old. In these generations, 43% and 44%, respectively, do not identify with any religion. That is, the portions of Christians and non -Christians are practically identical in these age groups.
US deputy converted in 2019
One of the most emblematic cases of Catholic conversion in recent years is that of (Republican Party), now vice president of the United States. He was baptized at the Catholic Church in Ohio in 2019.
“Over time, I was convinced that Catholicism was true. I was raised as a Christian, but I never had a very strong attachment to any denomination and was never baptized. When I became more interested in faith, I started from scratch and sought the church that most attracted me intellectually,” He declared Vance to the site at the time.
Vance was elected vice president on Donald Trump’s plate in 2024. The 2 took office on January 20, 2025.
The American politician converted to Catholicism with Pope Francis on April 20, 1 day before (stroke) and heart failure.
In Brazil, former 48-year-old Nazario (phenomenon) soccer player Ronaldo (phenomenon) in ceremony conducted by Father Fábio de Melo on September 12, 2023.
This possible recovery of faithful by the Catholic Church in the United States has also been reported in other countries.
In France, for example, Easter -scheduled adult conversions grew 45% by 2025 compared to 2024, according to the country’s churches. Similar movement in the United Kingdom.
The Vatican, which increased by 1.15% in the number of Catholics from 2022 to 2023, with more sharp growth in Africa (+ 3.31%).
Christians in the world
There is no 100% accurate statistics on the global amount of Christians today, but of the 2 billion people.
Most of this group that believes in Jesus as a Son of God is in the Americas and in Europe.
In absolute numbers, the United States concentrate the largest number of Christians: 213 million, according to data compiled by. Brazil has the 2nd largest population that declares to have this belief (180.8 million).
In the world as a whole, Christians are 31.1%, second, of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, with projections of 2020.
Muslims are the 2nd largest belief on the planet (24.9%), followed by Hindus (15.2%) and Buddhists (6.6%).
More accurate data on the religion of Brazilians should leave in June, with information compiled by the (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in the 2022 Census.
In 2020, Datafolha conducted a survey of 2,948 adult respondents who who 50% of the Brazilian population was Catholic, and 31%, evangelical. Another 10% said at the time they had no religion.
Unlike the United States, experts see a sharp increase in evangelicals in Brazil. Projections indicate that this religion will represent 35.8% of the population in 2026 (), as Poder360.
This information may be confirmed in a few months with the census and it will be possible to have a clearer overview of the trends of religions in the country. And understand if the stagnation of the loss of faithful observed in the United States is repeated here.
