'Conclave' screenwriter stands by movie after Megyn Kelly criticism: 'I don't think the film is anti-Catholic'

The screenwriter of "Conclave" is defending the Golden Globe-winning film from criticism by Megyn Kelly, saying it's not "anti-Catholic."

“I don’t think the film is anti-Catholic. I was brought up Catholic. I was an altar boy," Peter Straughan told Variety on Sunday after winning the award for best screenplay at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles. 

Although Straughan told the publication he hadn't heard Kelly's exact remarks, he said of the film, "I think the core message of 'Conclave' is about the church always having to re-find its spiritual core, because it deals so much with power. That’s always been a careful, difficult balance."

“To me, that was a very central Catholic ideal that I was brought up with. I stand by it," Straughan said.

Kelly had railed against the movie in a post hours earlier on the social platform X, saying she made a "huge mistake" by watching the "much-celebrated" motion picture that takes place during the three-day selection process of a new pope and is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris.

"Conclave," the conservative media personality and podcast host wrote, is "the most disgusting anti-Catholic film I have seen in a long time."

"Shame on Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow for starring in it and shame on director Edward Berger (among others)," Kelly said.

Kelly also shared a spoiler about the movie: "They make THE POPE INTERSEX! This is the big exciting twist at the end."

"I wish I had known so I wouldn’t have watched it," she said, saying every cardinal portrayed in the film "is morally bankrupt" and "repulsive."

"I’m disgusted. What a thing to release to streaming just in time for Christmas," Kelly said, decrying that Catholics are "fair game to mock/belittle/smear."