On Friday, Feb. 10, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares send a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. He criticized a memo that targeted so-called Radical Traditionalist Catholics as "anti-Catholic" and "un-American." Miyares demanded that the FBI make publicity regarding all the materials related to the document.
According to Life Site News, Jason Miyares led 19 states in submitting a letter asking the FBI to reveal the origins and implementation of its recently released "anti-Catholic" memo. One of the questions raised in the letter was whether or not the FBI had begun spying on Catholics.
"Anti-Catholic" Memo
In a report from Uncover DC, the Richmond Division of the FBI has expressed an interest in defending Virginians from the danger posed by "white supremacy," which the bureau thinks to have taken root among Catholics who attend the traditional Latin mass. On Jan. 23, 2023, an intelligence analyst working in the Richmond Field Office of the FBI provided information on Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in "Radical-Traditionalist Catholics" or RTCs.
As per the documented report of the analyst, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is able to confidently limit the risk posed by Radical Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources inside the Catholic Church. The abbreviation, which is unfamiliar to many people working in the field of domestic counterterrorism, is accompanied by a footnote written by the author. It explains that the RTCs are often distinguished by their rejection of the second Vatican council.
The analyst concludes that adherence to anti-immigrant, anti-semitic, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology can be inferred from a preference for the Catholic Mass to be said in Latin rather than in the vernacular and from a number of more traditional views on other world religions.
The writer makes the critical distinction between traditional Catholics, who favor the traditional Latin mass and teachings before Vatican II, and RTCs, who advocate "more extreme ideological beliefs and violent rhetoric." Traditional Catholics prefer the Latin mass and teachings from before Vatican II. Furthermore, the Washington Examiner reported that the whistleblower who revealed the anti-Catholic memo was the FBI special agent for six years, Kyle Seraphin.
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FBI Withdrawal on the Memo
Based on an article from Life Site News, an anti-Catholic memo that the FBI office issued in Richmond, Virginia, last month, relied on a report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). It is to justify its surveillance of Latin mass communities. In response to the intense backlash, the FBI issued a statement saying it retracted the anti-Catholic memo. They are also investigating why it was published in the first place.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been under critical observation in recent weeks for allegedly engaging in evident political targeting of conservatives. Thursday, Feb. 9, is the first day of congressional hearings conducted by a selected committee headed by Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan to investigate the agency's fraudulent actions.
The FBI asserts in its statement that upon learning the document, the FBI Headquarters immediately began taking action to remove the record from FBI systems and assess the basis for the paper.
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