WASHINGTON — The Biden administration “zealously” investigated, penalized, and engaged in “aggressive prosecutions” of Christians “with traditional biblical views” — ignoring their conscientious objections and even secretly keeping tabs on Catholic priests, a Department of Justice task force found.
The DOJ-led Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias released 14 findings Thursday, confirming the 46th president’s officials “forc[ed] Christians with traditional biblical views to choose whether to live in accordance with their faith or risk violating federal law.”
In a 200-page report, the task force concluded: “The Biden Administration generally tolerated religious beliefs that were privately held but zealously pursued actions to limit Christians’ ability to act in accordance with their faith.”
That included prosecutions of pro-life Christians who were given longer sentences than their pro-abortion peers for violations of a federal law protecting access to abortion clinics or pregnancy resource centers.
The report also unearthed new details about a January 2023 FBI memo sent to multiple field offices that called for the targeting of “radical-traditionalist” Catholics as a result of “baseless allegations” from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.
The FBI’s Richmond, Va. Field Office, which first compiled the memo, later probed a “priest and an entire Catholic sect” as a result of learning that a “career criminal” — who was stocking up on weapons and explosive materials — regularly attended a certain church in the commonwealth’s capital.
Agents who interviewed the repeat offender, Xavier Louis Lopez, noted that he was a self-described “radical traditional Catholic Clerical Fascist” — and, as a result of his professed beliefs, began tracking the priest of his onetime parish, as well as the cleric’s family.
“Lopez had attended Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) Chapel for approximately seven months and participated in three or four catechism classes as part of the process to become baptized,” a Jan. 5, 2023, email from an unnamed FBI employee stated.
“FBI Richmond attempted to interview the priest … who was not cooperative. Additionally, he has been to see Lopez six times in jail,” the email also read. “According to [redacted] he frequently flies back to Kentucky. It appears that his uncle is key people [sic] in the SSPX-MC organization.”
“We would be very interested in any information that you have on the organization, the [sic] set up a conference call tomorrow or a day next week that works for you to discuss further,” the FBI employee added.
The Society of Saint Pius X is a traditionalist Catholic organization that rejects many of the reforms imposed on the church following the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s. The group is best known for its support of the Traditional Latin Mass.
In February 2025, a judge sentenced Lopez to eight years and one month in prison for possessing destructive devices. While his arrested was unquestionably “lawful,” the Trump administration task force faulted the Biden-era FBI for using Lopez’s statement — as well as the SPLC-inspired memo — “as justification to launch a two-pronged attack against traditional Catholics.”
“The Richmond Field Office opened a law enforcement profile, known as a Guardian profile, on Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Society SSPX Chapel, a church that played no role whatsoever in Lopez’s acquisition or possession of the destructive devices,” the task force report noted.
“They interviewed Lopez’s priest … who was uncomfortable and noted that he would need to speak with the church’s attorneys before providing any additional information about his congregant,” it also stated.
Although the priest’s response “was reasonable, the Richmond Field Office viewed it as suspicious and used their suspicion as cover for conducting a broader evaluation” of the priest and other traditional Catholics.
After the Richmond memo drew backlash — and public apologies from then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and then-Attorney General Merrick Garland — senior FBI employees privately stood by the policy of targeting “radical-traditionalist” Christians.
Stanley Meador, then the special agent in charge of the Richmond field office, told a colleague who authored the now-recalled FBI memo: “No apology needed.”
“Keep that head up, this too shall pass. Will make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!” he wrote in a July 8, 2023, email.
Wray told members of the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing the same month that the memo was “appalling” and “as far as what we can tell, did not result in any investigative action, none.”
The task force report also found that the Biden DOJ and Department of Health and Human Services reversed efforts under the first Trump administration “to vindicate conscience rights” — including for “a Christian nurse” who was “coerced … into participating in an abortion despite her religious objections.”
Additionally, the Biden administration fined Christian universities at exorbitant rates and penalized other religious institutions over issues involving girls’ athletics and vaccine mandates.
“The Biden Administration’s policies regularly clashed with a Christian worldview and burdened traditional religious practices,” the report concluded.
“These conflicts frequently arose over abortion, gender ideology, and sexual orientation. Ultimately, the Biden Administration penalized Christians who lived in accordance with their beliefs.”
“No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who chairs the task force, in a statement.
“As our report lays out, the Biden Administration’s actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump,” he added.
“The Department of Justice will continue to expose bad actors who targeted Christians and work tirelessly to restore religious liberty for all Americans of faith.”
The report followed Trump’s February 2025 executive order on Eradicating Anti-Christian bias in the federal government.
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