Actor and director Mel Gibson denounced Roman Catholic bishops in a video monologue to a group supporting "canceled" priests.
The Coalition for Canceled Priests, which promotes the Catholic Church’s traditional teachings on faith and morals, held a rally Sunday in Rockford, Illinois, to kick off "40 Weeks for Priests," a campaign to defend the church and priests through prayer and fasting.
Gibson, a Catholic who said he was a "voice crying out from the wilderness of Malibu," recorded a video in support of the event. The clip is posted on the coalition’s website.
"It is not hard to believe that there is now such a thing [as canceled priests], as personally I’ve known many priests who have been canceled," Gibson said. "But not for the reasons you’d think. It’s not like they did a hit-and-run drive and left the scene of the crime, or embezzled church funds, stole the altar wine, or committed some other heinous crime. No, not at all.
"And who’s persecuting them? Well, their own bishops. How’s that?"
Gibson, maintaining a conversational tone throughout, proceeded to give his take on who the bishops are.
"A pack of men who generally, passively sit by and tolerate any kind of nonsense," he said, "but if one of their priests utter something that resembles orthodoxy, well then they spring into action, they reprimand him and they bully him and do their best to cancel him. And succeed, they drum him out of the service. Off he goes.
"I’m really sorry about that. It’s a grave injustice, and it’s a kind of white martyrdom.”
Gibson explained he was shunned by bishops when promoting "The Passion of the Christ," a film criticized for its violence and depiction of Jews.
"Those men couldn’t get away from me fast enough," he said. "And all but a few of them turned their back on me. It was pretty telling about who they were. A pretty insipid bunch, and it doesn’t look like anything’s changed."
The coalition's website said that "in recent decades, an aberrant, non-Catholic element has manifested within the priesthood and hierarchy. This element is easy to identify thanks to its most striking characteristic — an unwillingness to resist, and even a desire to celebrate, secular corruptions that have been condemned by the Church since its founding."
Several times in the video, Gibson referenced Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former Papal Nuncio. Vigano also has supported the coalition’s cause.
"[Vigano] says that the seeds of erosion of the church were sown with the reforms of Vatican II, and I agree with him," said Gibson, noting the ecumenical council that attempted to address relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world.
"There was nothing wrong. It didn’t need to be fixed. They were doing pretty well."
Gibson, who said he would make a financial donation to the coalition, also cited Vigano’s assertion that there was a parallel counterfeit church set up to eclipse the real one via an "inside job."
"I’m a pretty sinful guy. I’m as venal as the next guy but I know the difference between a shepherd and a hireling," Gibson said. "And I think that the vast majority of these bishops are just a bunch of hirelings.
"And my question is: Who's hiring them? I don’t think it’s Jesus. Is it [Pope] Francis? Who’s hiring Francis? Is it Pachamama. I mean, I think you need to look at the whole institution."
Despite his criticisms of the bishops, Gibson said "we know the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The victory’s God’s not ours. And it will flourish if we keep it in our hearts."
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