SW News: In the United States, the attorneys general of 20 states has joined the chorus of protests along with Catholic bishops against the controversial now-withdrawn FBI internal memo which mentions traditional Catholics as potential “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists”. Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey and his counterparts wrote a seven-page letter to the US Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray condemning the memo that was leaked by investigative journalism outfit Undercover DC recently.
In the letter, they made a mention of the memo which cites religious beliefs that separate traditional Catholics from others. They include a penchant for the Traditional Latin Mass said using the 1962 Missal and opposition to reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council. It also made a mention of Catholics who support the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X whose priests exclusively offer the old Latin Mass and they are not canonically recognized by the Holy See. The memorandum also brands those Catholics as those opposing abortion and LGBTQ.
According to Bailey, the FBI memo could be seen as an attack on the First Amendment by President Joe Biden, who professes to be a Catholic. “We already knew that President Biden was launching an attack on the First Amendment rights of Americans, as evidenced by our landmark free speech case Missouri v. Biden, but now it’s clear that he’ll weaponize unelected federal bureaucrats to go after any American who doesn’t worship the ‘right way,’” said the Attorney General. “The First Amendment includes both the right to free speech and religious liberty for a reason, and my office will use any tool necessary to defend the rights of all Missourians to worship as they please."
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Religious Liberty chairman of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement last week in which he criticized the memo. He also voiced his agreement with a statement issued by Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond. The cardinal said, “I agree with my brother Bishop Barry Knestout that the leaked memorandum was nonetheless ‘troubling and offensive’ in several respects – such as in its religious profiling and reliance on dubious sourcing – and am glad it has been rescinded. We encourage federal law enforcement authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure the problematic aspects of the memo do not recur in any of their agencies’ work going forward.”