A 'Day of Evangelical Churches' will be celebrated in Argentina each year on October 31 after the country's Senate passed a bill with cross-party support to establish the commemoration.
The provincial deputy of the Argentinan party 'Cambiemos', Marcelo Daletto, welcomed the move, which was also supported by the government, saying: 'As a grandson of an evangelical pastor, I am proud to have promoted this project requested by the evangelical churches, which was supported by all political groups and has been carried out together with the government.'
According to Evangelical Focus, Daletto pointed out that 'all religions have their commemorative days but this did not happen in the case of evangelicals, so it is fair they have it'.
He added: 'According to the religious freedom that characterises our province and our nation, we are filled with joy that the evangelical community now has its day because they represent an important percentage of the Argentinians.'
Evangelical churches have been gaining ground in Argentine since the 1980s, with evangelicals making up around nine per cent of the population, according to reports. The country is overwhelmingly Catholic.
The then José Bergoglio, the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, was elected to the papacy and became Pope Francis in March 2013.
