Question: Horacio de la Costa’s pastoral letter has somehow shaped the very fate of

the Rizal law. Though the authenticity of the letter was very much suspected and
never definitely established, still it added fuel to the fires of discord. Several drafts of
the pastoral letter which he wrote for the bishops in 1952 survived, imposing different
attitudes of the church towards Rizal, one draft being different than the other. Briefly
discuss the content of the Draft B.

Answer:

Draft B has a similar content to draft A. It tells us that Rizal was the first among
Filipinos who have distinguished themselves for service to the country. He has moral
values that make up true patriotism thereby leading our fellowship to love our own
country.

He is very devoted man and has compassion to our father land and to embrace
nationalism. Rizal made a clear statement telling us that he did not intend to attack
the Catholic Church yet the abuses in it. He wrote about fictional crimes of fictional
characters, which had a basis in fact. Young people cannot be expected to make the
distinctions between what the persons in a novel say in accordance with their
character, nor between what is said ironically and seriously stated, between the
condemnation of an individual and the condemnation of the organization to which he
belongs.

Therefore, it is our judgment that, while Rizal’s novels should be made familiar
to the learners, the editions should be accurately translated from the Spanish text,
properly annotated by a scholar familiar with the ecclesiastical and civil history of
Rizal’s period, and should ordinarily be commented on and explained by the teacher
in charge.

As such, there is nothing in the novels that inaugurates a danger to the faith and
morals of a mature, well-instructed Catholic.