Philippine Independent Church

The Philippine Independent Church (officially in Spanish: Iglesia Filipina Independiente; Filipino/Tagalog: Malayang Simbahan ng Pilipinas; Ilocano: Nawaya a Simbaan ti Filipinas; Latin: Lībera Ecclēsia Philippīna; and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, IFI, and PIC) is an independent Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the Philippines. Its schism from the Roman Catholic Church was proclaimed during the American colonial period in 1902, following the end of the Philippine–American War, by members of the Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina due to the mistreatment towards the Filipinos by Spanish priests, and partly influenced by the unjust executions of José Rizal and Filipino priests and prominent secularization movement figures Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, during earlier Spanish colonial rule wherein Roman Catholicism was the state religion in the country at the time.

Prolific Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo described the Philippine Independent Church as "the only living and tangible result of the Philippine Revolution." Ever since its inception, the IFI/PIC Aglipayanism is widely characterized as a schismatic, rather than a heretical movement, although the church itself and its congregation distance themselves from the "schismatic" description and prefers the term "independence" instead. Despite not being in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Philippine Independent Church universally maintains and adheres to the core set of beliefs and practices of catholicity.

The Philippine Independent Church is the country's first and oldest wholly Filipino-led independent Christian church. Its central office is located at the National Cathedral of the Holy Child in Ermita, Manila. It is ecumenically in full communion with the worldwide Anglican Communion, the third largest Christian communion in the world, while still maintaining its independence as per their concordat.