HispanicBusiness

Susan Sarandon was condemned by Jewish and Catholic organizations Tuesday after calling Pope Benedict XVI a Nazi.

Sarandon made the comments during an interview about her 1995 film "Dead Man Walking," which was based on an anti-death penalty book by Sister Helen Prejean, a copy of which she said she sent to the pope.

"The last one," she said, "not this Nazi one we have now," she said, referring to Pope Benedict, according to New York newspaper Newsday, which first reported her comments.

The Vatican has said the German-born Pope Benedict, 84, was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a 14-year-old and two years later was conscripted into the German Army during World War II but later deserted.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish rights organization, condemned her comments and called on her to apologise to the Catholic community.

"Such words are hateful, vindictive and only serve to diminish the true history and meaning of the Holocaust," the organization said in a statement.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue also blasted Sarandon. "Joseph Ratzinger (the Pope) was conscripted into the Nazi Youth the way every other 14-year-old German boy was at the time," he said. "Unlike most others, he not only refused to go to the compulsory meetings, he actually deserted the Hitler Youth. Which is precisely why Jews today regard him as a friend, not as an enemy."