R.R. Soares Beach Revival

Thousands attend an evangelical show on the Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 4, 2006. Police said 300,000 people attended the service, called "Show of Faith" presented by Evangelical superstar missionary R. R. Soares. While Brazil, with 178 million people, is the world's largest Catholic country, Evangelical Protestants have made significant gains. According to government figures, the percentage of Catholics fell from 84 percent in 1991 to 74 percent in 2000, while Evangelicals increased from 9 percent to 15 percent during the same period. Some predictions show evangelicals as half the population by 2050. The country's dire poverty explains part of the shift, with Brazil's tens of millions of poor looking for help to ease their misery after 500 years of Roman Catholic domination in the country. Another part of the evangelical appeal is theatrical, which plays well in Brazil. Soares, who leads International Church of the Grace of God, has become the most the man who appears most on Brazilian television with some 100 hours per week on four free channels. (Australfoto/Douglas Engle)

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Thousands attend an evangelical show on the Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 4, 2006. Police said 300,000 people attended the service, called "Show of Faith" presented by Evangelical superstar missionary R. R. Soares. While Brazil, with 178 million people, is the world's largest Catholic country, Evangelical Protestants have made significant gains. According to government figures, the percentage of Catholics fell from 84 percent in 1991 to 74 percent in 2000, while Evangelicals increased from 9 percent to 15 percent during the same period. Some predictions show evangelicals as half the population by 2050. The country's dire poverty explains part of the shift, with Brazil's tens of millions of poor looking for help to ease their misery after 500 years of Roman Catholic domination in the country. Another part of the evangelical appeal is theatrical, which plays well in Brazil. Soares, who leads International Church of the Grace of God, has become the most the man who appears most on Brazilian television with some 100 hours per week on four free channels. (Australfoto/Douglas Engle)

Rio Brazil evangelical church religion