A criminal case against a gay couple in Malawi perfectly illustrates the Catholic message of compassion over persecution, Paul Keenan writes.

On May 18, a court in Blantyre Magistrates Court in Malawi sentenced a gay couple, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour for pursuing a gay lifestyle, a matter that had come to light in December during celebrations to mark their 'engagement'.

Realistically, the matter should have gained no major attention; in Africa, some 22 nations criminalise homosexuality, and the case is just one of a number of drives against gay people in various countries. Yet, the Malawi case garnered much media attention, as western condemnations of the case emerged.

In Ireland, the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, TD, described the sentencing as ''disproportionate and against international human rights principles'' and said he was ''working with [Ireland's] partners for a strong EU response''.

( Right: The report that of the engagement of Steven Monjez (l) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga)

Distinctions

In this, Minister Power was unconsciously serving to illustrate a most significant element of the Malawi case, the clear distinctions of perspective and belief in relation to the issue of sexuality on and off the African continent, both in terms of politics and religion.

On the political front, one media outlet was quick to point out that Malawi's government would surely feel the pressure of the case, given that it relies on foreign aid for 40 per cent of its development budget. Indeed, human rights groups have called for the suspension of aid as a punishment, tying it in with Europe's commitment to promoting human rights beyond its own borders (specifically in Articles 11, 49, 177, 179 and 308 of the Treaty on European Union).

The EU also maintains, in Brussels, the European Parliament's Intergroup on Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Trans people (LGBT) to monitor the rights of those groupings.

At first glance, such factors offered some promise for Minister Power's desired strong response. However, recent trade and development negotiations paint a different picture.

In late March talks on the revised Cotonou Agreement reached a successful conclusion. Negotiations had been conducted between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states regarding poverty reduction and development issues. (The revised Agreement will be especially welcome in Malwai)

Legislating

Notably however, of 79 states making up the ACP group, 49 criminalise homosexuality, with at least five of these legislating for the death penalty in such cases. And while the European Parliament originally demanded a non-discrimination clause in the Agreement in relation to aid receipt, the matter was dropped during negotiations.

The LGBT group described that outcome as ''a dangerous signal that there is a hierarchy of rights: some will be defended, but others will not''.

The comfort offered by political sleight of hand, though, does nothing to deal with the other area of division, that between the faith groups in what is still active evangelisation territory for faiths 'east and west'.

Threats

On the one hand, a grouping of up to 22 churches of Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Evangelical traditions under the umbrella of the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC) offered its backing for the sentence and openly urged the government not to yield to donor threats. Further, in a statement the MCC urged the international community to ''respect Malawi's cultural and religious values and refrain from using aid as a means of forcing the country to legalise sinful acts like homosexuality in the name of human rights''.

Set against the MCC's perspective is the Catholic Church's own approach to what it has described as a ''complex'' issue and one that is ''a proper focus for the Church's pastoral care''.

Those quotes come from the 1986 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

In that text, the CDF does not shy away from the belief that the homosexual inclination, while not a sin, is ''a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil'', but goes on to assert that ''special concern and pastoral attention should be directed to those who have this condition''.

Further still, in 2003, Pope John Paul II, reacting to and rejecting the issue of legal recognition of homosexual unions stated firmly: ''Men and women with homosexual tendencies must be 'accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided'.''

In this, the Pope was lifting directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2358, in which it is stated that: ''They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial.''

Christians

Given that 70 per cent of Malawi's population are avowed Christians, (Catholics and Presbyterians being the larger groups), any future battle over Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga will certainly be fought in that arena more than any other - the politicians have made their decision.

No end of speculative outcomes can be formed from this in conjunction with ideas of Old Testament messages and their appeal to conservative Malawians However, as said, Catholicism remains one of the larger communities, chosen for its message by as many who choose Presbyterianism. There is hope, perhaps, that compassion may yet win the day.