On the April 11 episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, self-admitted atheist Maher slandered Pope Benedict XVI in the name of comedy. 

Maher said Pope Benedict is the “cult leader” of a “child-abusing religious cult.”

Regular viewers of his program were not surprised by the verbal assault since Maher has made no secret of his loathing for religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular.  The comments are just the latest in a long history of hate-filled “comedy” from Maher.

On April 11 Maher compared the Pope and the Catholic Church to the polygamist cult in Texas that has been in the news recently. Here is a partial transcript of what Maher said:

“Whenever a cult leader sets himself up as God’s infallible wingman, here on Earth, lock away the kids. Which is why I’d like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult. Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That’s right, the Pope is coming to America this week and ladies, he’s single!

“Now I know what you’re thinking: ‘Bill, you shouldn’t be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy Texas cult.’ For one thing, altar boys can’t even get pregnant. But really, what tripped up the little cult on the prairie was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands, all over the world. Cults get raided, religions get parades. How does the Catholic Church get away with all of their buggery? Volume, volume, volume!”

Maher went on to say that before Benedict became the pope he “wrote a letter instructing every Catholic bishop to keep the sex abuse of minors secret until the statute of limitations ran out. And that’s the Church’s attitude: ‘We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.’”

As the Catholic League for Religious Freedom noted in a press release April 14, before he became the pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger “had absolutely nothing to do with the policing allegations of sexual abuse until 2002, after the scandal erupted.”

Branding the Pope a Nazi is another of Maher’s slanders.  As a young boy Pope Benedict was forcibly conscripted to join the German Youth organization, as all young German boys were at the time.  This is a matter of public record which the Pope has himself addressed.  For Maher’s “comedy” truth is irrelevant. (For the Newsbusters analysis of this issue, click here.)

Maher’s attacks on Catholicism are nothing new. Even the death of Pope John Paul II was fodder for Maher, who just days after the pontiff’s death in April 2005 said on his program:

“For those who did not make the funeral, the Vatican has asked that in lieu of flowers, just stop touching your d---.”

“People waited in line for 24 hours to see the pope’s body and when they got to see the pope they smelled worse than he did.”

In 2002 Maher publicly stated, “I have hated the church way before anyone else.  I have been pounding religion for nine years on this show.”  The show he referenced was Politically Incorrect which then aired on ABC.  ABC dropped the show from its lineup and Maher took his bigoted routine to HBO. 

The Culture and Media Institute, with the help of the Catholic League, has compiled a list of some of the vitriol Maher has directed at Catholics.

·        November, 1999: “Catholics practice what they want to practice.  They go to see the Pope ‘cause he’s a big celebrity, but they go home and they masturbate….”

·        August, 2000: “Priests, a lot of times, molest boys, okay?  They are celibate and it’s a magnet for homosexual pedophiles.” Actor William McNamara used Maher’s show to say the Catholic Church should allow priests to marry “to give the altar boys’ rectum a break.” Continued...