FBI retracts leaked document orchestrating investigation of Catholics

The document, which was published on the website UncoverDC and is titled “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities,” the document singles out Catholics who are interested in the Traditional Latin Mass as potentially linked to violent extremist groups.

Kyle Seraphin, who is listed by UncoverDC as the author of the document, told CNA that he received the leaked document from an FBI agent. Seraphin himself is a former FBI special agent who was reportedly suspended last year. According to an NBC News report he went on to join Truth Social, the social media platform started by former President Donald Trump.

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Marked “UNCLASSIFIED/FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY,” the document includes a list of organizations with Catholic ties that are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) list of hate groups.

The SPLC has faced questions about its credibility from conservative and Christian organizations that have accused the group of a left-wing bias. Among the groups that made the SPLC’s 2021 list of supposed “hate groups” are the conservative and pro-family groups Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, ACT for America, the Center for Security Policy, and the American Freedom Law Center.

The organizations identified in the document as adhering to “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” include Tradition in Action, The Remnant, Culture Wars Magazine, and the Fatima Crusader. A “warning” added to the document noted that “potential criminality exhibited by certain members of a group referenced herein does not negate [the group’s or the members’] rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution.”