BLOG: 6 things you need to know about the Church in the Philippines

  1. Christianity was introduced to the Philippines by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan after arriving on the islands due to a missed route to the Spice Islands
  2. 90.6 percent of the Philippines’ approximate 102 million population is Christian, with the majority being Catholic. A further 5.5 percent is made up of Muslims concentrated mainly in the southern island of Mindanao
  3. The majority of their Southeast Asian neighbours practice Buddhism, the Philippines is the only Asian nation that is predominantly Christian
  4. Nearly 8,000 islands make up the Philippines, the majority of its population live on just 11 of them. Many of the Islands are still unnamed on global maps
  5. In the weeks before Christmas families go carolling with homemade musical instruments
  6. All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are widely celebrated in the Philippines and many go to visit and clean ancestral tombs at this time