The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has set a June 22 groundbreaking date for the Ribeirão Preto Brazil Temple, one of 23 total temples in South America’s largest country.
Elder Joni L. Koch, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Brazil Area, will preside and offer a prayer on the site and the construction process.
Of the Church’s 350 temples total worldwide that are dedicated, under construction or in planning and design, nine have concluded or are concluding construction and have been announced for dedication, with 42 more currently under construction.
Five houses of the Lord are now scheduled for groundbreakings from June to August — the Teton River Idaho and Cleveland Ohio temples on June 1, the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple on June 8, the Riberão Preto temple on June 22 and the Austin Texas Temple on Aug. 17.
The Church makes every effort to construct temples in an expeditious manner. At times, various reasons may delay a temple’s completion and dedication.
The Ribeirão Preto groundbreaking date was first published Monday, May 13, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Attendance at the groundbreaking will be by invitation only, with additional details on the event to be released as the date draws closer.
About the Ribeirão Preto temple
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Ribeirão Preto in October 2022 general conference. It was one of 18 locations — including Brazil’s Londrina — that he identified at the close of the Sunday afternoon session.
Less than two months later, a site for the house of the Lord was released, on Nov. 28. Planned as a single-story temple of approximately 32,000 square feet, the Ribeirão Preto Brazil Temple will be built at Avenida Antônio Marçal and Rua José Brandani in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
An exterior rendering of the temple was published earlier this year, on Jan. 8.
About Ribeirão Preto, the Church and its temples in Brazil
Located in southeastern Brazil and with a metro-area population of nearly 1.7 million people, Ribeirão Preto is in the northeastern region of the state of São Paulo, about 313 kilometers from the state capital of São Paulo. Ribeirão Preto dates back to 1856 and is named for the black creek or black stream by which it was built. The fertile soil of the area fostered the city’s deep roots in agriculture and farming.
Nearly 1.5 million Latter-day Saints in more than 2,170 congregations reside in Brazil, with missionary work and Church operations dating back to 1928. The Book of Mormon was translated and published in Portuguese in 1940, helping spark a new era of growth in Brazil.
Brazil is home to 23 total temples dedicated, under construction or announced, including the São Paulo Brazil Temple, the first not only in Brazil but across all of South America when it was dedicated in 1978.
Other dedicated and operating temples are located in Belém, Brasília, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife and Rio de Janeiro, with a temple scheduled for dedication in Salvador and another under construction in Belo Horizonte.
An additional 10 temples are in planning and design in Brazil — in Florianópolis, Goiânia, João Pessoa, Londrina, Maceió, Natal, Santos, São Paulo East, Teresina and Vitória.
Ribeirão Preto is in the Campinas Brazil Temple district, a distance of about 230 kilometers (143 miles) and a drive of at least three hours.
