Latin countries have long celebrated a variety of public holidays Roman Catholic origin, since the day of Corpus Christi until the day of St. Peter and St. Paul. But this year, Chile has established a regional holiday unprecedented, and declared October 31 as public holiday in honor of the "Protestant and evangelical churches." The new holiday commemorates the date in 1517, when Martin Luther had posted his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, beginning the Protestant Reformation. Only Slovenia and some German states have established this date as a holiday.

What makes the unusual decision to celebrate the Reformation is the fact that Chile is the only Latin American country that still has a Christian Democratic Party (Catholic). Nevertheless, the new holiday was approved by a unanimous vote in Congress. Politicians seem to recognize an opportunity.

In the last census in 2002 in a country that was recognizably Catholic, 15% of the population said they were evangelicals. State schools now offer the choice between a Catholic or evangelical religious teaching, and the Army has a chaplaincy of both churches.