Christianity in the Philippines
The Philippines is ranked as the 5th largest Christian-majority country on Earth , with about 93% of the population being adherents. , it was the third largest Catholic country in the world and was one of two predominantly Catholic nations in Asia. According to the National Statistics Office's national census for the year 2010, an estimated 90.1% of Filipinos were Christians; this consisted of 80.6% Catholic, 2.7% Evangelical, 4% Iglesia ni Cristo, 1.0% Aglipayan, and 3.4% other Christian groups including other Protestant denominations (Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Methodist, and Seventh-day Adventist) as well as Orthodox. Around 5.6% of the whole country was Muslim; about 1-2% were Buddhist; 1.8% of the entire population adhered to other independent religions, while less than 0.1% (as of 2015) were irreligious. According to the 2020 census, at least 84% of the population is Christian; about 79% belong to the Catholic Church while about 5% belong to Protestantism and other denominations such as Philippine 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) and Pentecostals. Many Filipinos in 2021 celebrated 500 years of Christian presence in the Philippines with Pope Francis commemorating March 16, the day Magellan introduced Catholicism with a mass on Limasawa, Leyte. Early Christian presence in the Malay archipelago and the Philippine Islands may be traced to Arab 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.