On Friday, Real Time host Bill Maher, champion of free speech, excoriated Pope Francis for pontificating that free speech should be limited to remarks that are inoffensive. Maher bluntly said, “He’s dead to me now. Oh yeah, fuck the pope.” Maher continued “Well, George Bush said it: you’re either with us or against us. Apparently the pope is not with us because he came down on the side of the bad guys.”

Francis spoke Thursday in the Philippines, where he condemned the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in which Islamists killed 11 people and injured 11 others. Francis seemed to defend free speech, but with limits, saying it was “a right and a duty that must be displayed without offending.” He added that someone mocking another’s faith was tantamount to disparaging their mother, and that the offender “can expect a punch.” Francis stated, “If my good friend Dr. Gasbarri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch. It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."

Maher amended the Bible to cement his point, asserting, “I think it’s in Galatians 13 when Jesus said: Turn the other cheek… Into my fist you fucking mook.”

Maher used to like the Pope; he defended Francis last November when the Pope demoted American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a staunch traditionalist. Maher said Francis was “Kicking ass and taking confessions.” In June, 2013, Maher, an avowed atheist, decided he liked Francis because he had said “even the atheists” might meet Christians on the “beautiful path toward peace.” Maher stated, “But you know people always say when somebody says something obvious, ‘Oh is the pope Catholic?’ I think he might not be. I think the pope might be an atheist like I think Obama is. He said this week, ‘Pope Frank’ said the Lord has redeemed all of us, not just Catholics, even the atheists. And I was like, I’m going to book my flight to heaven right now. And then of course — it’s funny because just like politics, the hierarchy at the Vatican was like, ‘What the fuck did this guy —?’ You could almost see them preparing the poison.”