The Biden FBI opened a criminal investigation on a Catholic priest for refusing to inform on his own parishioner.
That priest's only offense was saying he needed to speak with a lawyer first.
Now a 200-page DOJ report confirmed it was worse than conservatives thought – and the man who ran that operation just got promoted.
FBI Anti-Christian Bias Memo Targeted Catholic Parishes Using SPLC Junk Science
A report by the Justice Department-led Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, lays out 14 findings documenting how Joe Biden's agencies hunted Christians who refused to abandon their faith – and it names the officials responsible.
The FBI's Richmond Field Office started it in January 2023 with an internal memo identifying "radical-traditionalist Catholics" as potential domestic violent extremists.
The entire memo rested on a single case – a career criminal named Xavier Lopez who had attended an SSPX chapel for roughly seven months.
Lopez had nothing to do with the chapel's priest. He was a repeat offender who possessed homemade firebombs and self-described as a neo-Nazi – a label the church itself rejected.
The FBI arrested him lawfully. Then it did something that had nothing to do with law enforcement.
FBI Richmond opened a formal investigative profile on Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Society – a church that "played no role whatsoever in Lopez's acquisition or possession of the destructive devices," according to the task force report.
When the priest said he would consult with church attorneys before answering questions, the Biden FBI treated that entirely reasonable response as suspicious – and used that suspicion to launch a broader investigation into his life, his family, and his organization.
The sourcing for all of it? The Southern Poverty Law Center – the same far-left outfit that placed mainstream Christian nonprofits on a "hate map" and whose discredited smear sheet once inspired a gunman to open fire on the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.
Senator Chuck Grassley later obtained records showing the anti-Catholic Richmond memo had been distributed to more than 1,000 FBI employees nationwide.
At least 13 additional FBI documents used identical "radical traditionalist Catholic" terminology – every one of them citing the SPLC. One FBI agent privately acknowledged the overreliance on the SPLC for hate designations was "problematic."
Another senior FBI intelligence officer warned the memo "does not address factors that would affect the quality and credibility of SPLC as a source," noting the organization had previously "issued apologies and retract[ed] its naming of individuals or groups as extremist."
Leadership didn't care.
The FBI Agent Behind the Catholic Memo Now Runs Virginia Homeland Security
Stanley Meador ran the Richmond Field Office when his agents drafted the anti-Catholic memo, surveilled the priest, and coordinated with FBI offices as far away as London.
After the memo was publicly exposed, Meador wasn't alarmed – he was entertained.
When one of the agents who authored the memo sent Meador an apology – writing "I am terribly sorry for all that everyone has had to endure as a result of this product" – Meador waved it off with a joke.
"No apology needed," he wrote on July 7, 2023. "Keep that head up, this too shall pass. Will make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!"
FBI Director Kash Patel put Meador on administrative leave in June 2025.
Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger promptly rewarded him with a promotion – naming Meador Virginia's Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, the top law enforcement post in a state with hundreds of thousands of Catholic residents.
CatholicVote's national political director called the appointment an unmistakable message: "violating our civil liberties isn't a problem, it's a pathway to advancement."
Biden DOJ Lawyers Joked About Prosecuting Nuns
The rot went deeper than policy.
Text messages obtained by Senator Grassley show Biden DOJ prosecutors Joseph Cooney and Molly Gaston texting each other in February 2021 while reviewing media coverage of January 6. A New York Times photo of Catholic nuns at the Stop the Steal rally – wearing traditional habits and Trump scarves – caught their attention.
"I would like to take a special assignment of finding and prosecuting them," Gaston wrote.
"I'm with you," Cooney responded. "Although I'd like to prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit."
"Hahaha," Gaston replied.
Both Cooney and Gaston went on to serve as top deputies to Special Counsel Jack Smith. Cooney is now running as a Democrat for Congress in Virginia's 7th congressional district – a district that is part of the Diocese of Arlington, home to more than 430,000 Catholics.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said: "No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith. As our report lays out, the Biden Administration's actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump."
Sources:
- Josh Christenson, "Biden admin 'zealously' probed 'traditional' Christians — even keeping tabs on priests: DOJ report," New York Post, April 30, 2026.
- Leif Le Mahieu, "The Internal 'Joke' That Followed The Biden-Era FBI Targeting Of Catholics," Daily Wire, April 30, 2026.
- Mary Margaret Olohan, "Exclusive: Biden DOJ Lawyers Fantasized About Prosecuting Catholic Nuns, Emails Show," Daily Wire, April 29, 2026.
- "Task Force Publishes Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty," U.S. Department of Justice, April 30, 2026.
- "Grassley Oversight Unveils Disturbing Extent of FBI's Anti-Catholic Bias," Office of Senator Chuck Grassley, June 3, 2025.
- "New Report Details the Extent of the FBI's Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Traditional Catholics," House Judiciary Committee Republicans, September 27, 2024.
