Why Did the Biden Administration Target Catholic Priests?

In 2023, the FBI’s Richmond Field Office during the Biden Administration issued an internal assessment titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.” The assessment claimed, largely without credible evidence, that white supremacists and other domestic extremists were increasingly attempting to co-opt or infiltrate “radical-traditionalist Catholic” communities. Properly appreciated, this document is inconsistent with the First Amendment right of all Americans—Catholics included—to freely exercise their religion, without government interference.

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14147. Entitled Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government, the Department of Justice commenced a review of the prior administration’s tactics, which were apparently designed to bully certain groups. Among the groups that the FBI targeted were Catholics. The FBI claimed, without evidentiary foundation, that they had engaged in religious practices affiliated with violent extremism and criminal activity.

After the FBI memo was leaked to the public on February 8, 2023, internal reviews concluded that the memo failed to meet FBI standards. The internal review showed that the FBI improperly suggested that certain domestic terrorists were aligned with certain religious views. While the FBI withdrew the Richmond Catholic memo, the Richmond Field Office stood by its work.

The FBI’s initial Assessment supplied the following claims and conclusions:

First, the assessment argued that because some fringe, antisemitic, or anti-government extremists appeared to be drawn to radical-traditionalist Catholic spaces, the FBI should develop new “tripwire” and source-development opportunities, including outreach to local clergy and monitoring of places of worship. The document defined radical-traditionalist Catholics as a small minority who reject the Second Vatican Council, question the legitimacy of modern popes, and may hold isolationist or antisemitic views.

Second, the FBI sought to distinguish mainstream Catholics from traditionalists who prefer the pre-Vatican II Latin liturgy. The effect of that distinction was troubling because it suggested that constitutionally protected religious differences could be treated as aberrant—and therefore suspect—by federal law enforcement.

Third as part of the FBI’s outreach process, the Richmond memo recommended “engag[ing] in outreach with the leadership” of religious institutions to “sensitize [the][ congregations to the warning signs of radicalization”  From the FBI’s perspective, radicalization includes opposition to (a) abortion, (b) illegal immigration, (c) affirmative action, and (d) LGBTQ protections. In other words, the FBI, rather confusingly, transformed legitimate political and religious views into evidence of extremism.

Readers should note that the FBI’s initial assessment grew out of a 2020 investigation into an individual who expressed violent white-supremacist rhetoric online and attended a schismatic traditionalist chapel. In support of its broader conclusions, the Richmond office relied heavily on publications from outside advocacy groups and local law-enforcement reports. There is evidence that the FBI, at least, partially relied on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—an organization that now faces its own allegations of funding hate groups—for purposes of claiming that traditionalist Catholics support extremism. In addition, the FBI also focused on one individual who attended Catholic services and possessed violent tendencies, even though he was not a member of the targeted Catholic church (Our Lady of Fatima Chapel), was not Catholic, and never attended confession.

Properly understood, while the FBI’s 2023 Richmond investigation and report claimed that it was focused only on violent actors exploiting religious spaces, critics have rightly observed that the FBI’s analysis conflated traditional religious beliefs with extremism. The initial backlash was swift: FBI leadership withdrew the document and issued formal rebukes describing it as a serious failure of analytical judgment and constitutional awareness.

Now, as a result of President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order 14147, which was designed to end the weaponization of the federal government, the Department of Justice has reached the following updated conclusion:

·      The Federal Bureau of Investigation is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans.

·      History will rightly judge the Richmond Catholic Memo as a grave failure of the FBI Richmond Field Office to uphold that responsibility.

·      The FBI personnel involved in the creation of the Richmond Catholic Memo have been terminated

The FBI’s failure to protect Catholic Americans in 2023 and its reliance on the SPLC constitutes a grave threat to the constitutional rights of all Americans, Christian or non-Christian. Eternal vigilance is required to ensure law enforcement activity is based on legitimate law enforcement interests rather than the peculiar anti-religious views of individual FBI workers, the SPLC, or the preferences of any presidential administration.