Jenny Hagel, a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers who is both gay and Catholic, issued a strong denunciation of Pope Francis‘ homophobia last night.

In response to the pope reiterating Catholic doctrine that says gay priests must be celibate (or be kicked out of the priesthood), an idea that suggests there’s something intrinsically wrong with gay people, Hagel called out anyone who still sees the pope as a good guy.

… The press dubbed him “Cool Pope.” But here’s the thing: This guy’s not cool. This guy’s homophobic… We should all care about this because the pope is a world leader who’s giving people permission to be prejudiced. I’m gay and I’m Catholic, and when I came out, some people in my family told me that I was going to Hell. They got that idea at Church. The same Church that thinks it’s a good idea for 300 people to drink out of the same cup. … This guy isn’t cool. Do you know what’s cool? Telling LGBTQ people that they are perfect and beautiful and whole just the way they are. This dude may seem harmless because shuffling around in a white robe. But remember: white robes are the official uniform of people with bad ideas. … Hate speech is hate speech, and we need to call it out no matter where we see it.

She added that she wasn’t going to give money to her Catholic school until they sent another letter saying that everyone who went there is “created equal.”

As much as I appreciated the rant, part of me was screaming at the screen, “Just leave the Church.” Instead of just not giving money to your school, tell people to stop giving money to anything Catholic, period. It’s possible to have affection for an idea that you think has gone astray, even by those at the top — just ask never-Trump Republicans — but at some point, Catholics need to make peace with the fact that the pope isn’t the problem. The problem is the doctrine itself.

