A March 4 groundbreaking for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple has been announced by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Scheduled for 10 a.m on a Saturday, the groundbreaking ceremonies — signaling the start of construction — will include LDS Church leaders and invited community leaders.
President Thomas S. Monson announced the Rio temple — along with the Cedar City Utah Temple — at the church's April 2013 general conference. The Rio de Janeiro Temple will be among eight LDS temples in Brazil in operation, under construction or announced.
The São Paulo Brazil Temple — dedicated in 1978 — was the LDS Church's first not only in Brazil, but on the South American continent. Other Brazilian temples are located in Campinas, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Recife, with one under construction in Fortaleza and a new temple announced last spring for Belém.
The new temple will be located at Avenida das Américas, #8,400 in Barra da Tijuca, part of Rio's West Zone area on the Atlantic Ocean. Barra da Tijuca hosted many of the 2016 Summer Olympics venues.
Considered "houses of the Lord" by the Mormon faithful, LDS temples are used to reaffirm the teachings of Jesus Christ and to perform ceremonies — including marriage and baptism — to unite families for eternity
The LDS Church has 155 temples dedicated and deemed "in operation," including three under renovation. Another 12 are under construction, and nine temples join the Rio de Janeiro project as having been announced but not yet under way.
Brazil boasts an estimated population of 200 million, with Rio de Janeiro — the country's second-largest municipality after São Paulo — having a population of more than 6 million, and Rio's greater metropolitan area doubling that number of residents.
The LDS Church reported having 1.3 million members in Brazil, with 256 stakes and 39 districts and more than 2,000 congregations (1,593 wards and 445 branches). Brazil is home to 34 LDS missions.