This is confirmed by the fact that Rodrigues and his friend, Father Garrpe, plan their missionary voyage to Japan not only to spread their Gospel in the country, but also to “atone for the apostasy of Ferreira which had so wounded the honor of the church.” This again suggests that the Roman Catholic Church takes its reputation, reflected in the work of its priests, very seriously. When the Church hears that Father Ferreira-a highly-regarded Portuguese priest who has led Christians in Japan for 30 years-has apostatized in Japan, many of the priests cannot believe that such a great man could be led to “grovel before the infidel,” language which itself suggests a great deal of institutional pride. The Roman Catholic Church regards apostasy as the greatest crime against God, punishable by expulsion, suggesting that it is at the very least a betrayal of the organized institution of Christianity. Rodrigues’s moral journey suggests that, although apostasy is a symbolic betrayal of institution of Christianity, it is not a morally straightforward act, and is not necessarily a betrayal of Jesus Christ himself. Although in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, apostasy is a betrayal of Jesus Christ (whom Christians regard as God) and the worst possible crime a Christian can commit, Rodrigues is forced to choose between his loyalty to the Church and the lives of the Japanese people.

Shūsaku Endō’s Silence tells the harrowing story of a Portuguese missionary priest in 17th-century Japan named Father Rodrigues, who must decide to either let Japanese Christians suffer for his own sake, or to apostatize-that is, to symbolically renounce Christianity by placing one’s foot on a metal etching of Jesus Christ called a fumie.

Silence by Shūsaku Endō