A leaked FBI report exposed a startling investigation being carried out by the Bureau’s Richmond, Virginia Division into purported “White supremacy” among the Catholic faithful who prefer the traditional Latin mass.
The outcry led to the bureau quickly pulling back the report and asserting that the agency avoids starting a probe “based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”
The FBI has renounced a leaked internal memo from its field office in Richmond, Virginia, that warned white supremacists found a home with "radical traditionalist Catholics" who favored the Latin Mass. https://t.co/c22YP4YOIy
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 10, 2023
Of course, the FBI had no such misgivings in launching the investigation. Those only appeared when the public was informed of the insidious nature of the action by agency whistleblower and former special agent Kyle Seraphin.
Besides the report clearly stating that its conclusions were supported in part by “liaison reporting,” Seraphin revealed that these liaisons “are overt contacts with trusted members of a community or an industry.
In other words, informants within the church community who are reporting on this “First Amendment protected activity.”
According to the FBI document dated Jan. 23, 2023, “Radical Traditionalist Catholics” are defined as those who reject the Second Vatican Council’s allowing mass to be performed in people’s spoken language.
They may also be identified, according to the bureau, by their “adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and White supremacist ideology.” These traditional Catholics, the FBI report asserted, are now socializing with “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists.”
The document said that agents may utilize “tripwire and source development” against this “threat.” This simply means that they would cultivate informants within the church community to report activity to the FBI.
The document insinuated that agents would also monitor social media posts from these dangerous Catholics.
The bureau used three left-wing sources for evidence. A pair of Salon articles, another from the Atlantic, and a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center were cited. Hardly an objective groundwork to base an investigation into American citizens on.
The agency also cited the group’s hostility towards abortion, which of course is far outside of church teaching for the world’s over one billion Catholics.
With actions like these, it is no wonder that the House is now investigating the weaponization of the federal government. The freedoms of religion, speech, and association mean exactly that — and the government has no business probing the beliefs of millions of Americans.
