Exploring the religious roots in São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil is home to the most Catholics anywhere on the planet.

Founded by Portuguese explorers, part of their mission was to spread Catholicism throughout the world, and they started at home successfully.

In 1970, this country was more than 90% Catholic. In recent years, it's reportedly fallen closer to 50 or 60%.

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Part of the drop is due to the growing number of Brazilians raising their hands to count themselves as evangelicals.

Action News was at Sunday services at the evangelical church Tabernacle Brazil For Christ on the east side of São Paulo.

Professor Joao Chaves is a Baylor University professor who just returned from Brazil to study the spread of religion. Born in Brazil and converting to Baptist as a teen, he is amazed at how evangelicalism is being embraced today.

His research is looking into why what once seemed impossible is now reality. One reason, he says, more than 87% of the population now lives in urban areas, like São Paulo.

Chaves also points to a church structure that allows evangelical leadership to have a closer relationship with members and appear more focused on their needs.

Nonetheless, even as it changes, religion here is front and center in public and private life.