A US Senate investigation reveals that anti-Catholic animus in the FBI runs deep, and several unsettling questions remain.
Over two years ago, the nation’s top law enforcement agency landed in hot water when a memo leaked detailing plans to infiltrate and illegally spy on certain Catholic parishes and classifying American Catholics devoted to the Tridentine Mass as “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” and “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists.” The memo, drafted and approved by the FBI’s Richmond field office, caused outrage and initiated a series of congressional hearings, during which then-FBI director Christopher Wray attested, under oath, that the Richmond field office had acted alone in drafting the memo, which was never circulated or meant to be circulated to the FBI more broadly. Wray lied.
