<P> Protestantism, which was suppressed under the Spanish Catholic regime, has slightly reemerged under United States rule, making contemporary Puerto Rico more interconfessional than in previous centuries, although Catholicism continues to be the dominant religion . The first Protestant church, Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad, was established in Ponce by the Anglican Diocese of Antigua in 1872 . It was the first non-Roman Catholic Church in the entire Spanish Empire in the Americas . </P> <P> Pollster Pablo Ramos stated in 1998 that the population was 38% Roman Catholic, 28% Pentecostal, and 18% were members of independent churches, which would give a Protestant percentage of 46% if the last two populations are combined . Protestants collectively added up to almost two million people . Another researcher gave a more conservative assessment of the proportion of Protestants: </P> <P> Puerto Rico, by virtue of its long political association with the United States, is the most Protestant of Latin American countries, with a Protestant population of approximately 33 to 38 percent, the majority of whom are Pentecostal . David Stoll calculates that if we extrapolate the growth rates of evangelical churches from 1960--1985 for another twenty - five years Puerto Rico will become 75 percent evangelical . (Ana Adams: "Brincando el Charco ..." in Power, Politics and Pentecostals in Latin America, Edward Cleary, ed., 1997 . p. 164). </P> <P> The data provided for 2014 by Pew Research Center, is summarized in the chart to the right . An Associated Press article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent of whom identify themselves as Catholic" but provided no source for this information . </P>

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