Spanish missionaries first arrived on the islands of the Philippines in 1521. 500 years later, it is one of the largest Christian-majority countries in the world, boasting over 84 million Catholics, the third largest population of Catholics of any country.
Fr. Gregory Ramon Gaston is the rector of the Pontifical Filipino College in Rome. He says that even in the context of a secular state, the influence of Catholicism is strong throughout the Philippines.
FR. GREGORY RAMON GASTON
Rector, Pontifical Filipino College
We are 85% Catholic and it is felt very strongly in society, because if you go to a store you always see a calendar of Our Lady. You go to a public office, a government office, you see the crucifix, you see Our Lady there, the Holy Child.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass to celebrate the milestone for the Philippines, during which he praised Filipino women's capacity to evangelize wherever they go.
POPE FRANCIS
Many times I have said that here in Rome, Filipino women are 'smugglers' of faith. Because wherever they work, they work, but they also sow the faith.
For the over 12 million Filipinos living overseas, faith is an essential component in forming communities, but it's also a way of integrating into the local landscape.
FR. GREGORY RAMON GASTON
Rector, Pontifical Filipino College
I'm pushing our chaplains a bit to gradually insert our fellow Filipinos into the local parishes so that they can be more visible not apart from but in the parish and in the celebrations of the community.
In 1970, Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit the Philippines. Pope St John Paul II celebrated World Youth Day there in 1995. And Pope Francis visited in 2015.
Justin McLellan
