Brazilian order of precedence

The order of precedence in Brazil is a symbolic hierarchy of officials used to direct protocol. It is regulated by Presidential Decree number 70.274 of March 9, 1972, signed by former President Emilio Medici. The following order applies to ceremonies hosted by the federal government.

This formal order of precedence was established during the military dictatorship, and hasn't been amended after the country's return to democracy in the 1980s. However, changes have informally been introduced to it, so that the de jure precedence no longer corresponds to the de facto arrangements that prevail in current practice. For instance, the head of the military cabinet, the head of the intelligence service and general officers of the Armed Forces no longer enjoy a precedence as high as is assigned to them by the 1972 Decree.

Other modifications of the order of precedence arise from the fact that certain officers, such as the Chief of Staff to the President, the Solicitor-General, etc., have been granted by law the status of Ministers of State, and so the holders of such officers now have a higher rank than they would have otherwise.

The order of precedence is only used to indicate ceremonial protocol; it does not reflect the co-equal status of the branches of government under the Constitution, and is not an actual hierarchy. The ranking of Brazilian officers in the Order of Precedence also does not reflect the place of those officers in the presidential line of succession.

The placement of Roman Catholic Cardinals in the order of precedence in spite of the separation of church and state in force in Brazil is justified on the grounds that they are Princes of a foreign power (the Holy See) residing in Brazil and/or holding Brazilian nationality. However Cardinals are no longer ascribed as high a precedence as the 1972 Decree ascribes to them, being in current practice outranked for instance by the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, of the Federal Senate, of the Federal Supreme Court and by the attorney general of the Republic, as well as by former presidents of the Republic and by the Ministers of State.

Order of precedence according to the Decree

 * 1) The President of the Republic (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva)
 * 2) The Vice President of the Republic (Geraldo Alckmin)
 * 3) Brazilian cardinals (by seniority of assuming title)
 * 4) Odilo Pedro Scherer (Archbishop of São Paulo)
 * 5) Raymundo Damasceno Assis (Archbishop Emeritus of Aparecida)
 * 6) João Braz de Aviz (Prefect of Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in Vatican City)
 * 7) Orani João Tempesta (Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro)
 * 8) Sérgio da Rocha (Archbishop of Salvador)
 * 9) Leonardo Ulrich Steiner (Archbishop of Manaus)
 * 10) Paulo Cezar Costa (Archbishop of Brasília)
 * 11) Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign diplomatic mission to Brazil
 * 12) The President of the Federal Senate and of the National Congress (Rodrigo Pacheco)
 * 13) The President of the Chamber of Deputies (Arthur Lira)
 * 14) The President of the Supreme Federal Court (Luís Roberto Barroso)
 * 15) Former Presidents of Brazil (by seniority of assuming office, as long as they don't have other public office)
 * 16) José Sarney (21 April 1985 – 15 March 1990)
 * 17) Fernando Collor de Mello (15 March 1990 – 29 December 1992)
 * 18) Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1 January 1995 – 31 December 2002)
 * 19) Dilma Rousseff (1 January 2011 – 31 August 2016)
 * 20) Michel Temer (31 August 2016 – 31 December 2018)
 * 21) Jair Bolsonaro (1 January 2019 – 31 December 2022)
 * 22) Former Vice Presidents of Brazil (by seniority of assuming office, as long as they don't have other public office)
 * 23) Hamilton Mourão (1 January 2019 – 31 December 2022)
 * 24) Ministers of State (by order of creation)
 * 25) Minister of Justice and Public Security (Ricardo Lewandowski)
 * 26) Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mauro Vieira)
 * 27) Minister of Finance (Fernando Haddad)
 * 28) Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (Carlos Fávaro)
 * 29) Minister of Education (Camilo Santana)
 * 30) Minister of Labour and Employment (Luiz Marinho)
 * 31) Minister of Health (Nísia Trindade)
 * 32) Minister of Mines and Energy (Alexandre Silveira)
 * 33) Minister of Communications (Juscelino Filho)
 * 34) Minister of Environment and Climate Change (Marina Silva)
 * 35) Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Luciana Santos)
 * 36) Minister of Human Rights and the Citizenship (Silvio Almeida)
 * 37) Minister of Defence (José Múcio)
 * 38) Minister of Tourism (Celso Sabino)
 * 39) Minister of Integration and the Regional Development (Waldez Góes)
 * 40) Minister of Indigenous People (Sônia Guajajara)
 * 41) Minister of Racial Equality (Anielle Franco)
 * 42) Minister of Women (Cida Gonçalves)
 * 43) Minister of Transport (Renan Filho)
 * 44) Minister of Ports and Airports (Sílvio Costa Filho)
 * 45) Minister of Culture (Margareth Menezes)
 * 46) Minister of Sports (André Fufuca)
 * 47) Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (Wellington Dias)
 * 48) Minister of Fishing and Aquaculture (André de Paula)
 * 49) Minister of Management and the Innovation in Public Services (Esther Dweck)
 * 50) Minister of Social Security (Carlos Lupi)
 * 51) Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (Paulo Teixeira)
 * 52) Minister of Cities (Jader Barbalho Filho)
 * 53) Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (Geraldo Alckmin)
 * 54) Minister of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Business (Márcio França)
 * 55) The Head of the Institutional Security Bureau (Marcos Antonio Amaro dos Santos)
 * 56) The Chief of Staff (Rui Costa)
 * 57) The Director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Luiz Fernando Corrêa)
 * 58) The Commanders of the Armed Forces (by creation of branch)
 * 59) Commander of the Brazilian Navy (Adm. Marcos Sampaio Olsen)
 * 60) Commander of the Brazilian Army (Gen. Tomás Ribeiro Paiva)
 * 61) Commander of the Brazilian Air Force (Lt. Brig. Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno)
 * 62) Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces (Adm. Renato Rodrigues de Aguiar Freire)
 * 63) Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defence (Luiz Henrique Pochyly da Costa)
 * 64) The Attorney General of the Union (Jorge Messias)
 * 65) Foreign envoys
 * 66) The President of the Superior Electoral Court (Cármen Lúcia)
 * 67) Justices of the Supreme Federal Court
 * 68) Gilmar Mendes
 * 69) Cármen Lúcia
 * 70) Dias Toffoli
 * 71) Luiz Fux
 * 72) Edson Fachin
 * 73) Alexandre de Moraes
 * 74) Nunes Marques
 * 75) André Mendonça
 * 76) Cristiano Zanin
 * 77) Flávio Dino
 * 78) Prosecutor General of the Republic (Paulo Gonet Branco)
 * 79) Governors of State (by creation date)
 * 80) Governor of Bahia (Jerônimo Rodrigues)
 * 81) Governor of Rio de Janeiro (Cláudio Castro)
 * 82) Governor of Maranhão (Carlos Brandão)
 * 83) Governor of Pará (Helder Barbalho)
 * 84) Governor of Pernambuco (Raquel Lyra)
 * 85) Governor of Minas Gerais (Romeu Zema)
 * 86) Governor of São Paulo (Tarcísio de Freitas)
 * 87) Governor of Goiás (Ronaldo Caiado)
 * 88) Governor of Mato Grosso (Mauro Mendes)
 * 89) Governor of Rio Grande do Sul (Eduardo Leite)
 * 90) Governor of Ceará (Elmano de Freitas)
 * 91) Governor of Paraíba (João Azevedo)
 * 92) Governor of Espírito Santo (Renato Casagrande)
 * 93) Governor of Piauí (Rafael Fonteles)
 * 94) Governor of Rio Grande do Norte (Fátima Bezerra)
 * 95) Governor of Santa Catarina (Jorginho Mello)
 * 96) Governor of Alagoas (Paulo Dantas)
 * 97) Governor of Sergipe (Fábio Mitidieri)
 * 98) Governor of Amazonas (Wilson Lima)
 * 99) Governor of Paraná (Ratinho Júnior)
 * 100) Governor of Acre (Gladson Cameli)
 * 101) Governor of Mato Grosso do Sul (Eduardo Riedel)
 * 102) Governor of Rondônia (Marcos Rocha)
 * 103) Governor of Tocantins (Wanderlei Barbosa)
 * 104) Governor of Roraima (Antonio Denarium)
 * 105) Governor of Amapá (Clécio Luís)
 * 106) The Governor of the Federal District (Ibaneis Rocha)
 * 107) Senators
 * 108) Federal Deputies
 * 109) Admirals of the Brazilian Navy
 * 110) Marshals of the Brazilian Army
 * 111) Marshals of the air of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 112) Admirals of the fleet of the Brazilian Navy
 * 113) Generals of the Brazilian Army
 * 114) Ambassadors
 * 115) Lt. Brigadiers of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 116) The President of the Superior Court of Justice (Maria Thereza Moura)
 * 117) The President of the Superior Military Court (Lt. Brig. Joseli Camelo)
 * 118) The President of the Federal Court of Accounts (Bruno Dantas)
 * 119) The President of the Superior Labour Court (Emmanoel Pereira)
 * 120) Justices of the Superior Electoral Court
 * 121) Chargé d'affaires of foreign countries
 * 122) Justices of the Superior Justice Court
 * 123) Justices of the Superior Military Court
 * 124) Justices of the Superior Labour Court
 * 125) Vice admirals of the Brazilian Navy
 * 126) Divisional generals of the Brazilian Army
 * 127) Major-brigadiers of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 128) Catholic Archbishops
 * 129) The President of the Justice Court of the Federal District and Territories (José Cruz Macedo)
 * 130) Secretaries-General of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies
 * 131) Prosecutors of the Republic in the States of the Union
 * 132) Prosecutors-General in the States of the Union
 * 133) Directors of the Ministries of State
 * 134) Deans of Federal Universities
 * 135) The Director General of the Federal Police of Brazil (Andrei Rodrigues)
 * 136) The President of the Central Bank of Brazil (Roberto Campos Neto)
 * 137) The Chairwoman of the Bank of Brazil (Tarciana Medeiros)
 * 138) The President of the Brazilian Development Bank (Aloizio Mercadante)
 * 139) The Secretary of the Federal Revenue Service (Robinson Sakiyama)
 * 140) Chairperson of Federal Savings Bank (Carlos Vieira)
 * 141) Mayors of cities with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants
 * 142) Counter admirals of the Brazilian Navy
 * 143) Brigadier-Generals of the Brazilian Army
 * 144) Brigadiers of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 145) Vice Governors of the States of the Union
 * 146) Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the States of the Union
 * 147) Presidents of the Justice Courts of the States of the Union
 * 148) Chair of the Permanent Committee of the Book of the Merit
 * 149) Chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Merval Pereira)
 * 150) Chair of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Luiz Davidovich)
 * 151) Chair of the Brazilian Association of Press (Paulo Jerônimo)
 * 152) Deans of State and Private Universities
 * 153) State Secretaries
 * 154) Catholic Bishops
 * 155) Presidents of Employers' and Workers' Confederations in national scale
 * 156) Directors of Central Bank of Brazil
 * 157) Directors of Bank of Brazil
 * 158) Directors of Brazilian Development Bank
 * 159) Captains of sea and war of the Brazilian Navy
 * 160) Colonels of the Brazilian Army
 * 161) Colonels of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 162) State Deputies
 * 163) Commanders of the Military Polices of the States of the Union
 * 164) Desembargadores of the Justice Courts of the States of the Union
 * 165) Foreign consuls
 * 166) Federal Judges
 * 167) Catholic Monsignors
 * 168) Frigate captains of the Brazilian Navy
 * 169) Lt. Colonels of the Brazilian Army
 * 170) Lt. Colonels of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 171) Presidents of Employers' and Workers' Confederations in regional or state scale
 * 172) Presidents of Municipal Chambers in cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants
 * 173) Law Judges
 * 174) Public Prosecutors
 * 175) Department Heads of Federal Universities
 * 176) Mayors of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
 * 177) Corvette captains of the Brazilian Navy
 * 178) Majors of the Brazilian Army
 * 179) Majors of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 180) Department Heads of State and Private Universities
 * 181) Presidents of Municipal Chambers of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
 * 182) Universities professors
 * 183) Other Mayors
 * 184) Catholic Canons
 * 185) Lt. Captains of the Brazilian Navy
 * 186) Captains of the Brazilian Army
 * 187) Captains of the Brazilian Air Force
 * 188) Presidents of other Municipal Chambers
 * 189) Catholic Priests
 * 190) Principals of High Schools
 * 191) Aldermen