THE RETRACTION OF JOSE RIZAL

One of the most controversial issues in Philippine history is the retraction of Jose Rizal. Until today, this retraction issue
is a subject of discussion among historians, researchers and students of history.

What is really the truth behind this controversy?

We can have a better understanding of the issue if we will look back at some of the developments in the life of Jose
Rizal.

1. Rizal's Doubts on the Catholic Church

 The publication of Rizal's two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo, made Rizal a target of the
ire and persecution of the friars.

(Clearly written on the pages of these two novels were Rizal's attacks on the friars and practices of the Catholic
Church. He was declared an excommunicado, which means that he was expelled from the Catholic Church and thus
he could not receive its sacraments.)

(In his novel, Noli Me Tangere, Rizal expressed his doubts about the teachings of the Catholic Church on the
salvation of mankind)

 The Argument on Man's Salvation, (Rizal speaking through Pilosopong Tasyo)

-Man is not a necessary part of creation. but an accident of it.

(God could not have created him, if to make one happy He had to condemn to eternal misery hundreds of people in
a moment and all for some congenital faults.)

Fr. Pablo Ramon (dean of Ateneo de Municipal) and Fr. Federico Faura (a teacher of Rizal) tried to bring Rizal back to
what to them was "the right path."

(To Rizal, what the two priests believed to be the "right path" was not the right path for him.)

Fr. Obach several strings attached to the offer for Rizal to stay in the mission house

1. Rizal must retract publicly his "errors" on religion.

2. He must observe the religious practices of the Church and make a general avowal of his past.
3. He must conduct himself in an exemplary manner when it comes to religion and to Spain.

(Rizal did not agree with the conditions set forth by Fr. Obach. He considered them as too heavy conditions in
exchange for his short stay in the place of Fr. Obach.)

(Wenceslao Emilio Retana)

 Retana wrote that Rizal refused to believe the arguments of Fr. Sanchez by saying that he no longer believe in
the Eucharistic and ritual of the Catholic faith.

(Fr. Pastells, according to Collas was "an erudite man, a finished scholar. Surely, with his vast learning, Father
Pastells should have no difficulty whatever, in persuading Rizal to return to the fold and enjoy the "inestimable
treasure of faith.")

(The strength of Rizal's conviction was tested with the coming of Josephine Bracken to Dapitan. They fell in love with
each other. Rizal wanted to marry her. But marriage was one of the sacraments which Rizal had been stripped of
when he was excommunicated.)
  Retana wrote of this episode in the life of Rizal: "Rizal remained an impenitent free thinker despite the attacks
and condemnation of society.

2. The Beginning of the Retraction Controversy

 When and how did this controversy on the retraction of Rizal start?
-it started with the publication of Retana on claiming that he had the retraction document of Rizal.

(The retraction issue started with the publication of Retana claiming that he had the retraction document of
Rizal. When this was published, Fr. Pio Pi came out with his own retraction document which he claimed as the
original. He said that the document was given to Archbishop Nozaleda for safekeeping. He had it published in an
article entitled La Muerte Christiana del Rizal, which he claimed he published to prove that Retana's document
was not original.)

3. Analyzing the Retraction Issue

 Are the Jesuits telling the truth about the retraction document of Rizal? If it is true that they have an original
retraction document, why did it take them so long before they revealed about it?

- Fr. Balaguer use in convincing Rizal to retract? The simple threat of condemnation to hell!

(Collas wrote of that threat which according to Fr. Balaguer he used: "that threat, the most infamous and
outrageous libel on God, was coupled with the absurd doctrine of exclusive salvation long exploded and rejected by
European thinkers.")

 Rizal turned his back on the Catholic Church but he never turned away from God
-because he believe that the God he knew was a loving and forgiving God.

(Even in his Mi Ultimo Adios, he wrote, "For I go. where no slave before the oppressor bends. Where Faith can never
kill, and God reigns e'er on high")

 Miguel de Unamuno, classmate of Rizal said that the authenticity of the retraction document which Fr.
Balaguer claimed was done by Rizal was doubtful.

(He further said: "one must read between the lines the stupidities and vulgarities with which Father Balaguer
must have bludgeoned poor Rizal.")

 Laubach wrote of the Rizal retraction:

- "Father Balaguer did what Spanish friars did in his day, framed a story so as to discredit a Filipino, and
incidentally to give himself, a Spaniard, credit for a marvelous conversion."

 A perusal of the three retraction documents is necessary to give the student of history a chance to make
their own analysis of this controversial issue.