Catholic Church in the Philippines

Christianity, through Catholicism, was introduced to the Philippine islands by Spanish soldiers, missionaries, and settlers beginning in the early 16th century, with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition in Cebu. During the Spanish colonial period, Catholicism served as the state religion of the Philippines. Since the American colonial period, it has been practiced within the framework of a secular state. In 2023, an estimated 89 million Filipinos, or roughly 80% of the population, were Catholics.

History

Spanish Era

On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter Caetera which permitted the Spanish Crown to explore and conquer parts of Asia apart from lands granted to the Portuguese. These explorations were motivated by evangelisation and finding spices. In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set out to the explore the Pacific Ocean and arrived in the Visayan Islands in March 1521. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, noted that Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday, 31 March 1521, in Mazaua. The local rulers Rajah Colambu and Rajah Siaui were in attendance, and a cross was erected at the site. There are contentions, however, on the location of this First Mass in the Philippines with competing claims it was held in Butuan, Bolinao, and Homonhon. Missionaries then worked to evangelize the natives of Cebu and performed mass baptisms.

The Spanish Crown first entrusted the conversion of Philippine natives to the Augustinians. In 1564, the Culhuacán convent in Mexico City issued a religious warrant establishing the first branch of the order in the Philippines. In 1565, the Legazpi expedition set off from Mexico City and marked the start of Spanish rule over the Philippines, beginning with Cebu. This expedition was an effort to occupy the islands with as little conflict as possible, ordered by Phillip II. Lieutenant Legazpi set up colonies in an effort to make peace with the natives and achieve swift conquest.

Christianity expanded from Cebu when the remaining Spanish missionaries were forced westwards due to conflict with the Portuguese, and laid the foundations of the Christian community in Panay between around 1560 to 1571. A year later, the second group of missionaries reached Cebu, and the island became an ecclesiastical see and the center for evangelization. Augustinian missionary Alfonso Jiménez reached the Camarines region in southeastern Luzon via Masbate, Leyte, Samar, and Burias, planting the roots of an ecclesiastical centre in Naga City. By 1571, Fray Herrera, who was assigned as chaplain of Legazpi, had advanced further north from Panay and laid the foundations of the Archdiocese of Manila. Herrera travelled further in the Espíritu Santo and was shipwrecked in Catanduanes, where he died attempting to convert the natives. In 1572, the Spaniards led by Juan de Salcedo marched north from Manila with the second batch of Augustinian missionaries and pioneered evangelization in the Ilocos (starting with Vigan) and the Cagayan regions,

Under the encomienda system, Filipinos had to pay tribute to the encomendero of the area, and in return the encomendero taught them the Christian faith and protected them from enemies. Although Spain had used this system in America, it was not as effective in the Philippines, and missionaries were not as successful in converting the natives. In 1579, Domingo de Salazar, the first Bishop of Manila, and other clergymen were outraged because the encomenderos had abused their powers. Although the natives were resistant, they could not organize into a unified resistance towards the Spaniards, partly due to geography and ethnolinguistic differences.

With the increasing number of colonists, Spain and Mexico pressured other religious orders to join the evangelical mission started by the Augustinian in the Philippines. The Franciscans arrived in 1577, followed by the Jesuits in 1581, the Dominicans in 1587, and Augustinian Recollects in 1606.

Cultural impact

The Spaniards were disapproving of the lifestyle they observed in the natives. They blamed the influence of the Devil and desired to "liberate the natives from their evil ways". Over time, geographical limitations had shifted the natives into barangays, small kinship units consisting of about 30 to 100 families.

Each barangay had a mutable caste system, with any sub-classes varying from one barangay to the next. Generally, patriarchal lords and kings were called datus and rajas, while the mahárlika were the knight-like freedmen and the timawa were freedmen. The alipin or servile class were dependent on the upper classes, an arrangement regarded as slavery by the Spaniards. Intermarriage between the timawa and the alipin was permitted, which created a more or less flexible system of privileges and labor services. The Spaniards attempted to suppress this class system based on their interpretation that the dependent, servile class was an oppressed group. They failed at completely abolishing the system, but instead eventually worked to use it to their own advantage.

Religion and marriage were also issues that the Spanish missionaries wanted to reform. Polygyny was not uncommon, but was mostly confined to wealthier chieftains. Divorce and remarriage were also common as long as the reasons were justified. Accepted reasons for divorce included illness, infertility, or finding better potential to take as a spouse. The missionaries also disagreed with the practices of paying dowries, the "bride price" where the groom paid his father-in-law in gold, and "bride service", in which the groom performed manual labor for the bride's family, a custom which persisted well into late 20th century. Missionaries disapproved of these because they felt the bride price was the sale of one's daughter, and labor for bride's father allowed premarital sex between the bride and groom, which contradicted Christian beliefs.

Pre-conquest, the natives had followed a variety of monotheistic and polytheistic faiths, often localized forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Tantrism mixed with Animism. Bathala (Tagalog – Central Luzon) or Laon (Visayan) was the supreme creator deity above subordinate gods and goddesses. Native Filipinos also worshiped nature and venerated the spirits of their ancestors, whom they propitiated with sacrifices. There was ritualistic drinking and many rituals aimed to cure certain illnesses. Magic and superstition were also practiced. The Spaniards saw themselves as liberating the natives from sinful practices and showing them the correct path to God.

In 1599, negotiation began between a number of lords and their freemen and the Spaniards. The native rulers agreed to submit to the rule of the Castilian king and convert to Christianity, and allow missionaries to spread the faith. In return, the Spaniards agreed to protect the natives from their enemies, mostly Japanese, Chinese, and Muslim pirates.

Difficulties

Several factors slowed the Spaniards' attempts to spread Christianity throughout the archipelago. The low number of missionaries on the island made it difficult to reach all the people and harder to convert them. This was also due to the fact that the route to the Philippines was a rigorous journey, and some clergy fell ill or waited years for an opportunity to travel there. For others, the climate difference once they arrived was unbearable. Other missionaries desired to go to Japan or China instead and some who remained were more interested in mercantilism. The Spaniards also came into conflict with the Chinese population in the Philippines. The Chinese had set up shops in the Parian (or bazaar) during the 1580s to trade silk and other goods for Mexican silver. The Spaniards anticipated revolts from the Chinese and were constantly suspicious of them. The Spanish government was highly dependent on the influx of silver from Mexico and Peru, since it supported the government in Manila, to continue the Christianization of the archipelago.

The most difficult challenges for the missionaries were the dispersion of the Filipinos and the wide variety of languages and dialects. The geographical isolation forced the Filipino population into numerous small villages, and every other province supported a different language. Furthermore, frequent privateering from Japanese Wokou pirates and slave-raiding by Muslims blocked Spanish attempts to Christianize the archipelago, and to offset the disruption of continuous warfare with them, the Spanish militarized the local populations, importing soldiers from Latin America, and constructed networks of fortresses across the islands. As the Spanish and their local allies were in a state of constant war against pirates and slavers, the Philippines became a drain on the Vice-royalty of New Spain in Mexico City, which paid to maintaining control of Las Islas Filipinas in lieu of the Spanish crown.

Religious orders

The Philippines is home to many of the world's major religious congregations, these include the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus, the Redemptorists, Augustinians, Recollects, Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Comboni Missionaries, Franciscans, Carmelites, Divine Word Missionaries, De La Salle Christian Brothers, Salesians of Don Bosco, the indigenous Religious of the Virgin Mary, and Clerics Regular of St. Paul are known as Barnabites.

During the Spanish colonial period, the five earliest regular orders assigned to Christianize the natives were the Augustinians, who came with Legazpi, the Discalced Franciscans (1578), the Jesuits (1581), the Dominican friars (1587) and the Augustinian Recollects (simply called the Recoletos, 1606). In 1594, all had agreed to cover a specific area of the archipelago to deal with the vast dispersion of the natives. The Augustinians and Franciscans mainly covered the Tagalog country while the Jesuits had a small area. The Dominicans encompassed the Parian. The provinces of Pampanga and Ilocos were assigned to the Augustinians. The province of Camarines went to the Franciscans. The Augustinians and Jesuits were also assigned the Visayan Islands. The Christian conquest had not reached Mindanao due to a highly resistant Muslim community that existed pre-conquest. Although Christian conversion was successful in recently Islamized Manila wherein Islam had not yet been deeply entrenched, as well as Zamboanga City wherein high efforts expounded by Spain and Latin America, was exercised in order to Christianize the militantly Muslim Moros.

The task of the Spanish missionaries, however, was far from complete. By the seventeenth century, the Spaniards had created about 20 large villages and almost completely transformed the native lifestyle. For their Christian efforts, the Spaniards justified their actions by claiming that the small villages were a sign of barbarism and only bigger, more compact communities allowed for a richer understanding of Christianity. The Filipinos faced much coercion; the Spaniards knew little of native rituals. The layout of these villages was in gridiron form that allowed for easier navigation and more order. They were also spread far enough to allow for one cabecera or capital parish, and small visita chapels located throughout the villages in which clergy only stayed temporarily for Mass, rituals, or nuptials.

The Philippines served as a base for sending missions to other Asian and Pacific countries such as China, Japan, Formosa, Indochina, and Siam.

American period: 1898–1946

When the Spanish clergy were driven out in 1898, there were so few indigenous clergy that the Catholic Church in the Philippines was in imminent danger of complete ruin. Under American administration, the situation was saved and the proper training of Filipino clergy was undertaken. In 1906, Jorge Barlin was consecrated as the Bishop of Nueva Caceres, making him the first Filipino bishop of the Catholic Church.

During the sovereignty of the United States, the American government implemented the separation of church and state, which reduced the significant political power exerted by the Catholic Church and led to the establishment of other faiths (particularly Protestantism) within the country. A provision of the 1935 Philippine Constitution mimicked the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and added the sentences: "The exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall be forever allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil political rights." But the Philippine experience has shown that this theoretical wall of separation has been crossed several times by secular authorities and culturally the Western church and state separation has been viewed as blasphemous among the Filipino people.

It was during the American Period when newer religious orders arrived in the Philippines. The Spanish friars gradually fled by the hundreds and left parishes without pastors. This prompted bishops to ask for non-Spanish Religious Congregations to set up foundations in the Philippines and help augment the lack of pastors. The American Jesuits and other religious orders from their American province filled the void left by their Spanish counterparts, creating a counterbalance to the growth of Protestant congregations by American Protestant missionaries.

1946–present

After the war, most of the religious orders resumed their ecclesiastical duties and helped in the rehabilitation of towns and cities ravaged by war. Classes in Catholic schools run by religious orders resumed, with American priests specializing in academic and scientific fields fulfilling faculty roles until the mid-1970s. American and foreign bishops were gradually succeeded by Filipino bishops by the 1950s.

The Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 instituted a dramatic change for the Catholic Church in the Philippines, transforming the Latin Spanish church imposed upon the country to a Filipino church deeply rooted in Philippine culture and language.

When the Philippines was placed under Martial Law by 10th president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., relations between Church and State changed dramatically, as some bishops expressly and openly opposed Martial Law. The turning point came in 1986 when the CBCP President and then-Archbishop of Cebu Cardinal Ricardo Vidal appealed to the Filipinos and the bishops against the government and the fraudulent result of the snap election; with him was then-Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jaimé Sin, who broadcast over church-owned Radio Veritas a call for people to support anti-regime rebels. The people's response became what is now known as the People Power Revolution, which ousted Marcos.

Church and State today maintain generally cordial relations despite differing opinions over specific issues. With the guarantee of religious freedom in the Philippines, the Catholic clergy subsequently remained in the political background as a source of moral influence, especially during elections. Political candidates continue to court the clergy and religious leaders for support. In the 21st century, Catholic practice ranges from traditional orthodoxy, to Folk Catholicism and Charismatic Catholicism.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, mass gatherings were prohibited as part of community quarantines to contain the virus; this prompted the Church to broadcast most liturgical services and spiritual activities through the Internet, television, and radio, and the CBCP allowed bishops to dispense the faithful from Sunday obligation. Physical Holy Masses in churches gradually resumed by June at limited capacities, but were suspended multiple times in response to multiple surges of cases between August 2020 and January 2022. As quarantine restrictions eased, the CBCP, on October 14, 2022, released a circular encouraging the faithful to resume attending Sunday Masses; since then, several dioceses and archdioceses lifted its dispensations from physical attendance of Masses. Despite the setbacks brought by the pandemic, in 2021, the Church celebrated the quincentennial of the arrival of Christianity in the country; the celebrations commemorated the first Mass in the country and the re-enactment of the first Baptism in Cebu City, among others.

In 2024, the Philippine Church marked the declaration of Antipolo Cathedral as the country's first international shrine.

The Catholic church in the Philippines is unique for being by granted by the Roman Pontiff, the Cerulean Indult, the privilege to wear liturgical Cerulean or Celeste, in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a privilege, not shared by most other Latin Rite Catholics except for Catholics associated with the Spanish Empire, where it also doubly serves as the color of Native American Royalty even though the indult had initially fallen out of use due to wars of independence against Spain, the primary supporter of the Immaculate Conception, but was restored to all former Spanish-territories following the First Provincial Council of Manila as the Philippines earned, due to having reverted to or stayed loyal towards Catholicism amidst the divided stance of the church towards Philippine independence and the subsequent schisms produced by the Philippine Independent Church as well as other break away Protestant and Masonic influenced churches, after Spanish Colonialism was replaced by the American Imperialism.