The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been monitoring what they called "radical traditionalist Catholics," sparking outrage across the country. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently wrote a letter to Director Christopher Wray demanding further information and proof the monitoring has been halted.
In April, the Catholic News Agency reported the FBI's Richmond Office produced an eight-page internal memo calling for the monitoring of Catholics who attended the traditional Latin Mass as potential targets for radicalization. Director Wray said before Congress that the memo did not reflect the FBI's standards and that he was "aghast" when he saw it.
However, further unredacted reports in August showed the memo came from Washington, with the Los Angeles and Portland offices as sources of information or contact liaisons.
Sen. Rubio pointed out the contradiction in his letter, giving Wray until September 29th to explain himself and prove the FBI has moved away from targeting Catholics.
Additionally, he lambasted the memo as making "outrageous and sweeping generalizations about the Catholic faith and millions of Americans, but the memorandum also relies on wholly unsubstantiated news sources, a left-wing organization, and biased and partisan definitions of hate groups in the United States."
"The FBI does not exist to harass law-abiding Americans, nor will Congress permit FBI to do so," Sen. Rubio concluded, warning the incident will only weaken public trust in agencies and institutions further.
Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) called the FBI's targeting of Catholics "a fundamental attack on Americans as we know it" and "weaponization of government in a nutshell" in an August appearance on Fox Business's Evening Edit linked above, calling out the double standard wherein Catholics are targeted while pro-abortion radicals could firebomb churches and crisis pregnancy centers without consequence.
More recently, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said he was "disgusted by what the FBI has become" and that "the government has been weaponized against those who dare disagree with the controlling party’s agenda," vowing to protect religious liberty, fire Wray, and halt the weaponization if elected President.
