São Tomé and Príncipe

Lying off the Atlantic coast from Gabon in West Africa, the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe house a largely Catholic population, with approximately 95% of the country's people residing on the larger São Tomé. The overwhelmingly West African population are largely Roman Catholic, with the church claiming 80% of the inhabitants. Evangelical Protestants along with Seventh-Day Adventists account for 15% of residents—a number that is growing due to continued missionary work on the island—and 2% of the remaining people are Muslim—mostly migrants from Nigeria and Cameroon. Many São Toméans continue to engage in indigenous spiritual practices, but that engagement does not preclude adherence to Christian faiths, and there is likely syncretism evident on the islands. Spiritist beliefs that inform syncretic practices stem mostly from ...