The Catholic Church has faced a number of unflattering headlines recently, most prominently for its record of handling sexual abuse cases.

And The Passion of the Christ director Gibson, who was raised a Sedevacantist traditionalist Catholic, believes a clean-up behind the scenes would greatly help the image of the church. Sedevacantists believe that since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 (or, in some cases, the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963) subsequent popes have been neither true Catholics nor true popes, but rather heretics because they espoused Modernism.

In an interview with Extra host Billy Bush, Gibson was asked if his decision to team up with fellow Catholic Mark Wahlberg for the upcoming faith-themed biopic Father Stu was part of an effort to "get back to the good" of the church.

"Back to basics," Gibson, 66, responded. "Of course, it's lamentable all the stuff that's gone on. Like any institution, it's capable of being corrupt. And, you know, it is sad to see, but as always, I don't think it's the institution that's at fault.

"I think it's a lot of people they get in it. Institutions are as good or as bad as the people in it, running it. It is having a bit of a rugged time right now."

Gibson—whose self-built Malibu church, The Church of the Holy Family, is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic archdiocese—added: "I think there's going to need to be a housecleaning. It is going to have to come back to some sort of equilibrium in the future."