 Hiligaynon bible of 1912 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 98,240,844 (91.5 % of the total population) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Majority throughout the country (except in theBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) | |
| Languages | |
| Filipino,Spanish,Latin,English,Bicolano,Aklanon,Waray,Bisaya,Ilocano,Hiligaynon,Pangasinense,Maranao,Kapampangan,Surigaonon,Karay-a,Ivatan,Chavacano,Ibanag, and variousPhilippine languages |
ThePhilippines is ranked as the 5th largestChristian-majority country onEarth in 2010[update],[note 1] with about 93% of the population being adherents.[1] As of 2019[update], it was thethird largest Catholic country in the world and was one of two predominantlyCatholic nations inAsia.[2]
According to theNational Statistics Office's national census for the year 2010, an estimated 90.1% of Filipinos were Christians; this consisted of 80.6%Catholic, 4%Iglesia ni Cristo, 1.0%Aglipayan, 2.7%Evangelical groups, and 3.4% other Christian groups including otherProtestant denominations (Baptist, Pentecostal,Anglican, Methodist, andSeventh-day Adventist) as well asOrthodox. Around 5.6% of the whole country wasMuslim; about 1-2% wereBuddhist; 1.8% of the entire population adhered to other independent religions, while less than 0.1% (as of 2015)[3] wereirreligious. With this, the Philippines has consistently demonstrated a low level of government restrictions on religion, ensuring that citizens are free to practice their faiths openly, with minimal interference from state authorities, which reflects the country’s strong constitutional guarantee of religious freedom and diversity.[4]According to the 2020 census, at least 84% of the population is Christian; about 79% belong to theCatholic Church while about 5% belong toProtestantism and other denominations such asPhilippine Independent Church,Iglesia ni Cristo,Jehovah's Witnesses,Seventh-day Adventist Church,Apostolic Catholic Church,United Church of Christ in the Philippines,Members Church of God International (MCGI) andPentecostals.[5]
Many Filipinos in 2021 celebrated 500 years of Christian presence in the Philippines[6] withPope Francis commemorating March 16, the day Magellan introducedCatholicism with a mass onLimasawa,Leyte.[7][8][9][10]
Early Christian presence in the Malay archipelago and the Philippine Islands may be traced toArab Christian traders from the Arabian Peninsula. They had trade contacts with early Malayan Rajahs and Datus that had ruled these various Islands. Early Arabians had heard the gospel from Peter the Apostle at Jerusalem (Acts 2:11), as well as evangelized by Paul's ministry in Arabia (Galatians 1:17) and also by the evangelistic ministry of St Thomas. Later, these Arab traders along with Persian Nestorians, stopped by the Philippines on their way to Southern China for trade purposes. However, no solid efforts were made to evangelize the native population. With the spread of Islam in Arabia, much of the Christian heritage of Arabia had ended and the Arab travelers focused more on spreading Islam to Mindanao,[11] through which they transmitted the knowledge of Jesus as a prophet to the Moro people.[12][13]
In 1521, thePortuguese navigator and explorerFerdinand Magellan under the service ofSpain came across the Philippines while searching for theSpice Islands. Ferdinand Magellan and his men landed inCebu Island in central Philippines.[14]
At this time period, almost nothing was known to the West of the Philippines and so information on most pre-Hispanic societies in the islands date to the early period of Spanish contact. Most Philippine communities, with the exception of the Muslim sultanates inMindanao and theSulu Archipelago, were fairly small and lacking in complex centralised authority. This absence of centralised power meant that a minority of Spanish explorers were able to convert larger numbers of indigenous peoples than attempting such in larger, more organized, dominions such as theIndianised orTheravada Buddhist kingdoms inmainland Southeast Asia, theMalay Peninsula and theIndonesian Archipelago.
With his arrival inCebu on March 17, 1521, his first attempt was to colonize the islands and to Christianise its inhabitants. The story goes that Magellan met withRajah Humabon, ruler of the island of Cebu, who had an ill grandson. Magellan (or one of his men) was able to cure or help the young boy, and in gratitude Humabon allowed himself, his chief consort Humamay, and 800 of his subjects to be baptiseden masse. In order to achieve this, Spain had three principal objectives in its policy towards the Philippines: the first was to secure Spanish control and acquisition of a share in thespice trade; use the islands in developing contact withJapan andChina in order to further Christian missionaries’ efforts there; and lastly to spread their religion.[15]
After Magellan was killed by natives, theSpanish later sentMiguel López de Legazpi. He arrived in Cebu fromNew Spain (nowMexico), where Spain introduced Christianity and colonisation in the Philippines took place.[16] He then established the first Permanent Spanish Settlement in Cebu in 1565. This settlement became the capital of the new Spanish colony, with Legazpi as its first governor. After Magellan,Miguel López de Legazpi conquered the IslamisedKingdom of Maynila in 1570. The Spanish missionaries were able to spread Christianity inLuzon and theVisayas, but the diverse array of ethno-linguistic groups in the highland areas of Luzon avoided Spanish annexation owing to their remote and difficult mountainous region. Sultanates in Mindanao retained the Islamic faith, which had been present in the southern Philippines since some time between the 10th and 12th century, had slowly spread north throughout the archipelago, particularly in coastal areas.[14] This resistance to Western intrusion makes this story an important part of the nationalist history of the Philippines. Many historians have claimed that the Philippines peacefully accepted Spanish rule; the reality is that many insurgencies and rebellions continued on small scales in different places through the Hispanic colonial period.
For mostFilipinos, the belief in God permeates many aspects of life. Christians celebrate important holidays in many different ways, the most important of which areChristmas,Lent andHoly Week,All Souls' Day, as well as many local fiestas honouring patron saints and especially theVirgin Mary. Filipinos living and working inMetro Manila and occasionally those fromthe diaspora often return to their respective homeprovinces and towns to observe these holidays with their birth families, much like the practise inMainland China fortraditional holidays. Filipino infants and individuals are more often than not expected to be baptised as Christians to affirm faith in Christ and membership in a specific denomination.[17]
Christmas is the biggest holiday, and one of its most beloved rites is theSimbang Gabi orMisa de Gallo, aseries ofMasses held before dawn in the nine days precedingChristmas Day. Devotees attend each Mass (which is different from the otherwiseAdvent liturgy of the day elsewhere) in anticipation of Christ's birth and to honour the Virgin Mary, along with the belief that attending the novena ensures fulfilment of a favour requested of God. After the service, worshippers eat or buy a breakfast of traditional delicacies that are sold in churchyards, the most common beingputo bumbóng andbibingka.
The second most important religious season is Lent, which commemorates Christ'sPassion andDeath, ending withEaster which celebrates theResurrection. Beginning withAsh Wednesday, Lent has a sombre mood that becomes more pronounced asHoly Week (Semana Santa) arrives.Holy Week in the Philippines is a period especially rich in centuries-old tradition, which have undertones from indigenous customs and beliefs that date back to thepre-Christian period.
Practises include the continuous melodic recital of thePasyón, a 17th-centuryepic poem which narrates Biblical stories and the life of Christ, with a focus on the Passion narrative (hence its name). Adapted from the ancient Filipino art oforally transmitting poems through chant, the devotion is usually performed by groups of individuals, each member chanting in shifts to ensure complete, unbroken recitation of the text. Theatre troupes or towns meanwhile stagePassion plays calledSenákulo, which are similar to its European predecessors in that there is no universal text, that actors and crew are often ordinary townsfolk, and that it depicts Biblical scenes related toSalvation History other than the Passion.
TheVisita Iglesia is the praying of theStations of the Cross in several churches (often numbering seven) on eitherMaundy Thursday orGood Friday.Processions are a staple throughout the week, the most important being onHoly Wednesday,Good Friday (where theburial of Christ is reenacted with a town'sSanto Entierro image) and the joyousSalubong that precedes the first Mass on Easter Sunday.
Fasting and abstinence is undertaken throughout the season and traditional taboos are enforced on Good Friday, usually after 3:00 p.m.PHT (UTC+8) - the time Christ is said to have died - all throughBlack Saturday until theEaster Vigil.Television andradio limit broadcasting hours and air mostly inspirational programming alongside the days' religious services;newspapers are also on hiatus, while shopping malls and most restaurants are closed to allow employees to return home. Popular holiday spots such asBoracay often dispense with these customs, while many people use the long holiday for overseas travel instead of observing the traditional rites.
Other observances includeAll Saints' Day andAll Souls' Day in November, which are taken as one season calledUndás (traditionally known in English asAllhallowtide). As with Christmas and Lent, most Filipinos also return home in the period (the third most important in the calendar), but with the main intent of visiting and cleaning ancestral tombs.
January itself has two important Christological feasts: the Feast of theTranslation of theBlack Nazarene on January 9, where the image is returned to its shrine inQuiapo Church in a day-long procession of millions; and the Feast of theSanto Niño de Cebú (HolyChild Jesus) every Third Sunday of January, with the largest celebrations being held inCebu City.[14]
In May, theFlores de Mayo (literally, "Flowers of May") is when small altars are bedecked with flowers in honour of the Virgin Mary. Communities also hold theSantacruzan, which is part-procession honouring thefinding of the Cross (on itsold Galician date), and part-fashion show for a town's maidens.
In addition, most any place that has apatron saint (oftenbarangays, towns, Catholic schools, and almost every church) holds a fiesta, where the saint's image is processed and feted with traditional foods,funfairs, and live entertainment on his/her feast day, which is often declared a holiday for the area. Examples of patronal fiestas are theNativity of St John the Baptist every June 24, where communities under his patronage would celebrate his summertime birth by splashing other people with water, and thetriduum of feasts known as theObando Fertility Rites held in mid-May, where devotees dance for fertility in a custom that has ancient animist roots.
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Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet who was given a special message - injil, or the gospel - to convey to all people.
During his prophetic mission Jesus performed many miracles.
