A Justice Department report released Thursday has exposed how the FBI under President Joe Biden treated traditional Catholic beliefs as potential signs of domestic extremism.
Investigators even turned [1] their attention to two priests, only to find no connection to crime or violent activity.
The report came from the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group and focused on a 2023 internal FBI document called the Richmond Domain Perspective.
That assessment was produced by the bureau’s Richmond Field Office during the Biden administration.
According to the Justice Department, the assessment connected beliefs held by many conservative Catholics with violent extremism.
Apparently, practicing an ancient faith and rejecting progressive social doctrine was enough to attract the attention of federal agents.
FBI materials identified attendance at the Traditional Latin Mass, opposition to abortion, support for conservative family values, and a “rejection of modernity” as possible warning signs.
Those are ordinary religious and moral convictions for millions of Americans, not evidence of criminal intent.
The report revealed that FBI agents investigated two priests while examining supposed extremist activity.
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Agents monitored their travel and communications, but the bureau eventually found no link between either priest and criminal conduct or violent extremism.
That finding should have ended the matter before innocent clergy members were dragged into a federal investigation.
Instead, the episode showed how political assumptions could contaminate law enforcement analysis when officials decided traditional religious beliefs looked suspicious.
The Justice Department also found that the FBI relied on biased and unverified sources while developing the Richmond assessment.
Those sources included publications from the Southern Poverty Law Center and foreign intelligence materials that were used without adequate credibility reviews.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has long been embraced by liberal institutions seeking convenient labels for ideological opponents.
Allowing such material to influence federal investigations created a predictable risk that protected speech and religious practice would be treated as evidence of extremism.
Internal FBI reviews later concluded that the Richmond document improperly mixed Catholic doctrine with violent extremism.
Reviewers also determined that the assessment failed to give proper consideration to First Amendment protections involving religion, speech, and association.
Yet FBI leadership reportedly did little to correct the deeper institutional problems behind the document.
Employees involved in producing it received positive performance reviews, while officials in Richmond continued defending and refining the assessment after it was removed from FBI systems.
That response suggested the problem was not merely one poorly written memorandum.
The bureau’s bureaucracy appeared more interested in protecting its work product than confronting why faithful Catholics had been viewed through the lens of domestic terrorism.
President Donald Trump ordered a review of federal agency weaponization shortly after returning to the White House in January 2025.
The Justice Department examined more than 1,800 pages of internal emails, intelligence assessments, and investigative records while preparing its report.
The department has since removed key FBI employees responsible for the Richmond document.
The personnel action marks a sharp departure from the Biden era pattern of allowing officials to escape meaningful consequences while public outrage slowly faded.
“This Department of Justice will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
“The individuals who developed the Richmond Domain Perspective are no longer with the Department.”
FBI Director Kash Patel also said the employees responsible for the Catholic memorandum had been held accountable.
He pledged that federal agents would not be permitted to repeat abuses that place constitutionally protected religious activity under government suspicion.
“Weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI. Even while those who developed the unacceptable Richmond Catholic memo under the previous administration have been held accountable, releasing information to the public about what occurred under the prior regime is an important part of the process. I want to thank the Weaponization Working Group for their partnership as well as Attorney General Todd Blanche for his leadership addressing these abuses and making sure they never happen again.”
The report offers a disturbing picture of what happens when federal power becomes entangled with progressive political assumptions.
Traditional Catholics were not uncovered as violent extremists, but the Biden FBI still subjected their beliefs, priests, communications, and movements to bureaucratic scrutiny.
For Americans concerned about religious liberty, the episode is a reminder that constitutional protections require officials willing to enforce them.
The cleanup now underway may remove responsible personnel, but restoring public trust will demand lasting transparency and firm accountability.