BLOG: 6 things you need to know about the Church in the Philippines
- 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
- 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
- The majority of their Southeast Asian neighbours practice Buddhism, the Philippines is the only Asian nation that is predominantly Christian
- 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
- In the weeks before Christmas families go carolling with homemade musical instruments
- 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