“[W]hen the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician,” writes Koch–funded U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), “then he can expect to be treated like one.”

The latest Republican to gin up the Pope-Hate-And-Outrage Machine, Rep. Paul Gosar yesterday announced his plan to boycott Pope Francis’ address to Congress, in an opinion column for the conservative blog Town Hall:

If the Pope plans to spend the majority of his time advocating for flawed climate change policies, then I will not attend…As the leader of the Catholic Church, and as a powerful voice for peace throughout the world, His Holiness has a real opportunity to change the climate of slaughter in the Middle East…not the fool’s errand of climate change.

To break this down:

This is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a self-described “proud Catholic…taught to think critically, to welcome debate and discussion,” diminishing the urgency of climate change to “socialist talking points” and “false science,” and characterizing Pope Francis as a “leftist politician” advancing a “fool’s errand.”

Sadly, this is how we expected things to go down. Charles and David Koch have been going after Pope Francis for months because his teachings of altruism and sustainability are a direct threat to their selfish, profit-motivated agenda. And other Republicans have been right with them in their outrage over the pope’s call for climate action and condemnation of income inequality.

Just yesterday, the Koch-financed Heartland Institute held a climate change-denying press conference at which the group’s marketing director, Gene Koprowski, conflated Pope Francis’ climate concerns with Paganism, saying, “What is environmentalism but nature worship?” 

So there’s that.

All of this is only going to heat up over the course of the next week, so look for other Republicans — particularly fellow Koch vassals — to join Gosar in his outrage, his boycott, and maybe even his characterization of Pope Francis as a propagator of “false science.” And look for the Koch brothers to do the same.

Those of us at Bridge Project will be right there with you. So stay tuned — and keep an eye out for Bridge Project’s forthcoming report, “A Koch Confessional.”