clipped from: www.foxnews.com   

Comedian Bill Maher stopped short of apologizing Friday night for accusing Pope Benedict XVI of being a Nazi, but he said he'd refrain in the future from drawing that connection.

"I will never make 'the pope is a Nazi' joke again," Maher said on his HBO show, "Real Time With Bill Maher."

Maher then returned to criticizing the Catholic Church for its clergy sex abuse scandal, saying the pope would be in jail if he were the executive of a chain of day-care centers where similar abuse was found.

Click here to view Maher's apology

It isn't out of character for Maher to skewer Catholicism on his show, but his April 11 rant about the pope's visit to the United States prompted a group of politicians to send a letter to HBO President Sue Naegle saying Maher had "crossed the line of decency."

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said Maher "lied when he said the Pope 'used to be a Nazi.'