The Bishop of Gozo, Mario Grech, sometimes seems to thoroughly enjoy shooting himself in the foot. His latest salvo against the introduction of IVF to help numerous childless couples finally realise their dreams has rightly been met with much derision and perplexity.

His assimilation of the technology – a reproductive technology that mimics and helps nature run its course – with abortion has also, in the meantime, been quickly squashed by those in the medical profession who specialise in the subject. Politicians from both sides of the House of Representatives have also promptly rejected the Gozo Bishop’s appeal against artificial fertilisation.

The same bishop who was relatively young when he was appointed, which had led many to believe that he could help gently prise the local Church out of its feudal mentality, was at the forefront of the Church’s insensitive stand against divorce when the referendum finally came up, albeit a number of centuries late. The overwhelming ‘yes’ vote, one would have thought, should have at least convinced him to be less forceful in condemning things he hardly knows anything about, and to be more accessible to people who need support – rather than more trenches dug around them – in their everyday dealing with the problems of married life.

Perhaps the fact that Gozo, his diocese, was the only district on these islands to have reported a ‘no’ majority in the divorce referendum last year prompted him to take this Don Quixotian attitude to the IVF method of procreation. Again, however, he is caught trying to stop something that could prove to be a breakthrough for many young men and women wishing to produce their own offspring and who see in IVF technology a possibility for happiness, a family of their own, parenthood and all the joys associated with those things.

To now raise the spectre of abortion in the overall discussion on IVF is as insensitive as when, during the divorce debate it was claimed, by Church spokespeople and Church-inspired ventriloquists posing as experts attempting to tackle the media, that divorce would wreak havoc on the nation’s social fabric when the Church itself has been annulling marriages for ages, at a price of course. Rather than thinking of the agony and hurt so many people were going through before the Maltese at last woke up to their social responsibilities, the Maltese bishops, with Mario Grech taking the cockier role, chose to be negative and oblivious to their predicament.

Is the same thing going to happen with regard to IVF? The Gozo Bishop has at this late stage bluntly thrown the whole discussion off balance with his declaration on IVF, which he controversially labelled “highly abortive”. Again, the agony and hurt of so many couples of the so-called faithful are ignored, to, always hopefully, be shepherded into a tight corner where they are then left stranded and in doubt for the rest of their lives.

All this negativity is intertwined with the defunct government’s own delaying tactic on the IVF question. The AD progressives have rightly said that it is scandalous that the government continues to put the issue on the backburner when a consensus position had been reached in Parliament.

Again, we present ourselves as the morons of Europe, thinking we can live on Cloud Nine regardless of the fact that, like it or not, having voted for it or not, today we are just one small part of a vast union of nations where the same IVF method is practised freely, uncontested and efficiently – and in the process bringing happiness to countless, no-less Catholic couples everywhere in Europe.

No one in his right mind would deny the IVF issue requires certain ethical considerations. The medical profession cannot be left to its own devices, and a sane, unfettered discussion should always be encouraged. It is after all what we have done in connection with divorce. We practically out-talked and out-argued the rest of the world in our assessment, and the eventual law that was approved was certainly not one of the more liberal versions around.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel” was the logical reaction of Dr Pierre Mallia, an expert on ethics in medicine, when asked to comment on the Gozo Bishop’s declaration. Not surprisingly, he insisted there has been enough discussion on the issue and “we should avoid going back to yesterday’s arguments”. Wise words, good counsel, undoubtedly.

In a prudent, respectful tone (much more than this correspondent can contain himself to offer), Dr Mallia also emphasised that IVF has absolutely nothing to do with abortion, which is a different matter completely and so should not be referred to in this context.

But no, the Gozo Bishop has to punch square pegs into round holes. Like your typical mediaeval inquisitor, he points an accusing finger at politicians, warning them against “promoting the culture of death” when all they have done is appoint a highly-respected mixed commission of experts, including Church representatives and parliamentarians, to discuss the introduction of IVF.

As with divorce, the Maltese will, in their majority, accept and support a serious, well-balanced law that seeks to offer hope in place of desperation, to serve as a breakthrough rather than a barrier, and to avoid ethical pitfalls by ensuring a measured and respectful approach to undeveloped life.

This is not frivolous, ultraliberal thinking, but an acknowledgement of the great advance of science in its search for new solutions that actually bring, and not smother, new lives. These, in turn, bring new joys to thousands of people who otherwise would have thought their problem with fertility was some kind of mysterious curse that they would one day be compensated for in some other existence.

It is about time we started tackling these tricky issues in a positive way, rather than with the usual fire-and-brimstone condemnations when it’s crunch time, and an appropriate decision is finally beckoning. Bishop Mario Grech needs to be less fiery and sanctimonious, but more down to earth and willing to appreciate that there are more sides to an argument than one.

So please give us a break and let us, Gozitans and Maltese, move into the 21st century, cautiously by all means but also purposefully. And, in this case, there is no nobler purpose than giving life and happiness at the same time.