The Church isn’t too hot for gays. It never has been and probably never will be. If that’s its line then fine, to each their own, etc. What’s far less palatable though is when its representatives take it upon themselves to present homosexuality as the ugly fruit of some sort of moral and physical deficiency.

Who on earth (or in the heavens for that matter) gave them the right to make such sweeping statements? They aver that the default setting of nature is heterosexual relationships, that men belong irrevocably with women and vice-versa.

If that’s indeed true, then it follows that celibacy is equally unnatural.

That’s not all though. Given the thousands (not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands!) of child abuse cases that rocked the Church recently - many of which were brazenly covered up for years, thus allowing pedophile priests to inflict their dirty work on even more unsuspecting parishes - one would like to think it would have the decency to refrain from making too many value judgments, especially those concerning the private lives of other people. In other words, “Why do you notice the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (Luke 6:14).

Moreover, for an institution claiming to represent God no less, the Vatican’s earthly record has been positively ghastly. From the bloody Inquisitions to its ongoing crusade against birth control - without forgetting, of course, its silence during the Holocaust and odious treatment of women throughout the ages - it has enough to keep it introspective until kingdom come. What consenting adults do with their lives should be the least of its worries.

***

On behalf of all sensible Mauritians, I would like to sincerely apologize to the four Tibetan monks who were unable to transit here for the spinelessness of my government. It seems that, along with the construction of roads, dams, hospitals and airports, we’ve also contracted out our sovereignty. As a result, our commitment to national self-determination has become as flimsy as the steel bars used to erect these edifices. This is a pity as it negates one of the main gains of Independence, namely the right to speak with our own voice on the international stage.

Naturally, real politik dictates that States occasionally have to make uncomfortable concessions in order to protect their national interests yet, toeing the line imposed willy-nilly by a foreign power smacks more of bare-faced subservience than diplomatic cunning. One wonders just how far government is prepared to go to keep Beijing happy. JinFei showed that the authorities won’t balk at jettisoning the rights of Mauritians in favour of this increasingly special relationship.

So what’s next? Censoring critical Internet sites?

Imprisoning subversive artists? What can be possibly worse than not being allowed to show compassion for our oppressed Tibetan brethren ?