The Vatican in its newspaper yesterday mistakenly scolded Israel for not offering aid to Sri Lanka when in fact the anti-Semites in the island nation refused entry to the Israeli aid delegation. In the language it used to issue its judgment on the only nation in Southwest Asia that allows Christians unfettered religious freedom, the Vatican revealed a bias that calls into question Pope John Paul II’s famous outreach to Jews.

The official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, denounced what it called a decision by the Israel Defense Forces to deny emergency help to disaster victims in Sri Lanka. The publication calls for “a radical and dramatic change of perspective” among people “too often preoccupied with making war.”

However, contrary to the Vatican report, the Israelis were all too anxious to assist the victims of the tsunami. An Israeli plane carrying 80 tons of food and medical supplies worth $100,000 was set to depart for Sri Lanka yesterday morning – but Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry denied entry to 150 Israeli medical and security personnel that planned to render assistance to the victims. Israel sent the food and medicine despite the insult.

Oops! I guess the Vatican doesn’t take its mission to provide the truth to the world too seriously these days. The blogosphere had the Sri Lanka/Israel story within a few hours; it’s yet another shortsighted and pointless example of anti-Semitism that hurts the haters more than it could ever hurt the Jews bearing the aid the Sri Lankans need. It didn’t take much for the official newspaper of the Catholic Church to judge Israelis as a group as warmongers who lack the heart and decency to assist the needy. This reaction plays dangerously close to the stereotypes of Jews that have passed through the centuries as stingy, greedy miscreants who work to undermine civilization – stereotypes that the Catholic Church, unfortunately, helped to fan for centuries.

The Anti-Defamation League responded with alarm yesterday to the knee-jerk “blame Israel” reaction by the Vatican. “This is a case of wishing to believe the worst about Israel, whether or not it is true,” said the ADL’s national director, Abraham H. Foxman. “The editors of L’Osservatore Romano have a history of unfairly portraying Israel as a militaristic aggressor and oppressor of Palestinians, and this is another example of their bias against Israel coming to the fore. Not only do they get the facts wrong, but they use a spurious and misleading report as a basis to criticize Israel and its leadership. L’Osservatore Romano owes Israel an apology.”

It owes Roman Catholics more than an apology; the Vatican owes us an explanation. Instead of spending a few minutes getting its story straight, the Vatican mouthpiece wasted little time jumping to conclusions. L’Osservatore Romano forces Catholics around the world to ask a few questions regarding the Vatican’s true attitude toward Israel and Jews.

Question 1: Why did an official Catholic newspaper fail to research the issue before issuing an opinion?

Question 2: Why did L’Osservatore Romano automatically blame the Jews?

Question 3: Who wrote that editorial, and at what level was it approved?

The Vatican has generated a lot of publicity during Pope John Paul II’s reign from its outreach to Israel and the worldwide Jewish community, based on the pontiff’s deeply held opposition to anti-Semitism. This incident appears to betray a completely different attitude toward the Jews in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church. When leaders within Christ’s church take the side of tyrants and terrorists and turn on the one small oasis in a desert of oppression for Christians, we Catholics have to wonder where the Vatican is leading us.

Mr. Morrissey is a radio talk-show host and freelancer in Minneapolis. His work can be found at www.captainsquartersblog.com.