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BY JESSICA SIBERT

ANCHOR ERICA COGHILL

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Actress and activist Susan Sarandon channeled her ‘inner Louise’ -- driving herself to take on the Catholic Church. ABC News has more.

“Yeah, she kind of called Pope Benedict a Nazi. And that did not go over well. The Pope was named Joseph Ratzinger and did grow up in Nazi Germany, but the comment did anger a lot of people including the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the Anti-Defamation League.”

In an interview with Newsday during the Hamptons Film Fest in New York, Sarandon said she sent a copy of a book to the last Pope, “not this Nazi one we have now.” A blogger for the newspaper said the offhand comment wasn’t thought out.

“Of all the places on largely Catholic Long Island, perhaps only in the Hamptons could Sarandon get a laugh with such a comment. She may have only used ‘Nazi’ to mean ‘dictatorial’ or ‘cold,’ but it's a dangerous word for public figures to throw around.”

In fact, Bill Donohue the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told E! Online he had a few of his own harsh words for Sarandon.

“In addition to calling the actress ‘despicable,’ [he] said, ‘it is very hard to find someone dumber than Sarandon. He deserted the Hitler Youth at the first moment. [Sarandon doesn’t know what she’s talking about… to blame him for something that he was never responsible for… she is ignorant and full of hatred to the Catholic Church.’”

Donohue does not expect an apology from Sarandon, who he called a “hard-core leftist.” But the Anti-Defamation League awaits Sarandon’s reconciliation.

“She made unacceptable, inappropriate comments that surely are offensive to every Catholic but I would say goes way beyond the Catholic community. I'm not Catholic. Our organization is not a Catholic organization. But because we're offended by this and we think again, it is offensive to those who died in the holocaust and also offensive for those who care about having civil discussion in our current society.” (Video source: Fox News)

But a blogger for The Stir said Sarandon’s comment is being made into a much bigger deal than it actually is.

“Even though he deserted,hewas affiliated with the Nazi regime as a child. That's a fact, and if Susan was simply repeating that fact, then oh well. It isn't exactly something that can be considered inflammatory. Overall, it's really no big deal -- something the Catholic Church should just let go in one ear and out the other. After all, I'm sure the Pope has bigger fish to fry.”

Reporters from TMZ think she crossed the line. They say just because the current Pope was enlisted as a Nazi as a child, doesn’t mean he actually believed in the movement.

“What we know about Pope Benedict is in his life as an adult he has been outspoken, trashed the Nazis. He’s been an advocate of peace and tolerance for the most part. None of his beliefs are in line with Nazi ideology…so calling him a Nazi, I got to say, is wrong and she shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s worse than wrong. Honestly to use that term that flippantly—the kid was 14 yrs old! He was a kid in the middle of a tyrannical regime.”

Sarandon has yet to issue a statement or an apology on the matter.