In his recent Remnant Underground, Michael Matt highlighted Senator Josh Hawley’s opposition to the FBI’s targeting of Traditional Catholics.

“Now we know that in fact, FBI agents did approach a priest and a choir director to ask them to inform on parishioners . . . Good heavens, Director, this is one of the most outrageous targetings – you have mobilized your division, the most powerful law enforcement division in the world, against traditionalist Catholics . . . your memo labels traditional Catholics as racially, and ethnically, motivated violent extremists in need of investigation . . . You have repeatedly said 'we don't target churches, we don't list churches,' [but] they're listed in the memo."

None of us expect that the FBI’s operations against Traditional Catholics will stop; but even if they stopped tomorrow, meaningful damage has already been done. Our own government. treats us as potential domestic terrorists on the basis of our religious beliefs. If the FBI conducted such operations against Jewish Synagogues, they would be considered anti-Semitic. But there is no such stigma associated with persecuting Catholics, so the FBI apparently does not hesitate to do so.

Catholic moral teaching is difficult precisely because it directs us to overcome the passions that give rise to crimes the FBI ought to care about.

On its face, the entire premise of the FBI targeting Traditional Catholics is as preposterous as it is offensive. Catholic moral teaching is difficult precisely because it directs us to overcome the passions that give rise to crimes the FBI ought to care about. To illustrate, here are Our Lord’s words on how we should respond to those who persecute us:

“You have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike you on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other. And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let thy cloak also go to him. . . You have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.” (Matthew 5:38-44)

Likewise, we are bound to follow the Ten Commandments which, in various ways, forbid us to commit the types of crimes the FBI should care about.

The upshot of this is that, all else being equal, any given person in the world is less likely to commit crimes if they submit themselves to the Catholic Church’s moral teaching. So if the FBI is serious about its mission, it would seem far more reasonable to encourage Americans to attend the Traditional Latin Mass rather than investigating them for doing so.

Why, then, does the FBI target those whom it should unconditionally support? It seems that one of our best clues is that Francis does something similar to those whom he should protect: he supports almost every religious belief in the world but relentlessly attacks Traditional Catholics, and pressures his bishops to do the same.

Why, then, does the FBI target those whom it should unconditionally support? It seems that one of our best clues is that Francis does something similar to those whom he should protect: he supports almost every religious belief in the world but relentlessly attacks Traditional Catholics, and pressures his bishops to do the same. Moreover, Francis partners with the globalists to advance the various anti-Catholic initiatives promoted by the Great Reset: the most obtrusive climate control measures, the LGBTQ+ agenda, open borders, and the suppression of any system of moral beliefs that would encourage its adherents to resist tyranny.

On this latter point, Michael Matt highlighted Francis’s words comparing Muslim extremists to Traditional Catholics (i.e., “Catholic fundamentalists”):

“It’s obvious that Islam is hurting from extremist groups, diehard groups, fundamentalists. We, Christians, also have fundamentalist groups . . .” (Remnant Underground, 6:40)

In Francis’s eyes, Traditional Catholics are problematic because we would rather suffer persecution than abandon the unadulterated Faith practiced for two-thousand years. To better understand the importance of this, we can look to an exchange from a book Francis has recommended as “prophetic,” Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World:

“And it is true that Christians have died for this Faith, whatever it is?’ [asked Mabel Brand] ‘Oh! yes.’ [replied Mr. Francis] ‘Thousands and thousands. Just as Mohammedans have for theirs.’”

“Mr. Francis” would indeed know about the Catholic Faith because he had been “Father Francis” before he apostatized and subsequently assumed the role of directing “liturgical celebrations” for the Antichrist. Beyond this apparent resemblance to the Francis we know today, it is evident that Monsignor Benson recognized that Catholics would ultimately be persecuted because they were willing to die for their Faith rather than follow the Antichrist.

This does not, of course, mean that Francis is knowingly partnering with the Antichrist, but it tells us all that we need to know about his pro-globalist, anti-Catholic agenda.

This does not, of course, mean that Francis is knowingly partnering with the Antichrist, but it tells us all that we need to know about his pro-globalist, anti-Catholic agenda. Francis condemns Traditional Catholics as “rigid” and “backward” because we believe what the Church has always taught, which is a threat to those who seek a One World Religion. In Francis’s denunciations of Traditional Catholics, we can hear echoes of Oliver Brand’s condemnation of the Church in Lord of the World:

“And there was no religion but one that claimed the equal rights of universal jurisdiction—and that the Catholic. The sects of the East, while each retained characteristics of its own, had yet found in the New Man the incarnation of their ideals, and had therefore given in their allegiance to the authority of the whole Body of whom He was Head. But the very essence of the Catholic Religion was treason to the very idea of man.”

Like Mr. Brand, Francis hates Traditional Catholicism because it has undeniable historical claims to being the one religion established by God to lead souls to Heaven. The very existence of men and women who believe in God’s objective truth stands in the way of the globalists. This is why Francis has followed his post-Vatican II predecessors in repeatedly denouncing proselytism as one of the great evils in the world.

And here we get to the concept of hate crimes. Obviously Francis and his collaborators frequently direct hateful speech and actions against Traditional Catholics, as has been well-documented. Are there crimes associated with this, though? It seems that agencies such as the FBI should be looking into the likely criminal aspect of the matter, which we can outline as follows:

• As is indisputable based on two-thousand years of documented history, the Catholic Religion can never change to contradict what it has always taught.
• Accordingly, the role of the bishops — and especially the pope — is to safeguard the unadulterated Catholic Faith.
• For over one hundred years prior to Vatican II (1962-1965), the popes specifically warned of anti-Catholic plots to infiltrate the Catholic Church to change its teachings (which, again, can never change to be something contrary to what they have always been).
• With Vatican II, the Church’s enemies were able to finally gain sufficient power and influence to propagate errors contrary to what the Church has always taught.
• With Francis, more than any of his predecessors, it is crystal clear that he is deliberately attempting to radically change Catholic Teaching to be something that, by definition, it can never become.
• In the process of implementing these illicit changes, Francis fraudulently uses the assets of the Catholic Church to promote unambiguously anti-Catholic causes.
• In tandem with this, Francis is persecuting Catholics who commit no other “crime” than believing and practicing what the Church has always believed and practiced.
• Francis’s illicit persecution of Catholics also involves misappropriation of the Church’s assets.
• Because Francis commits these crimes to target Catholics on the basis of their religion, he is arguably committing hate crimes against Catholics.

Even if no temporal court will ever convict Francis and his collaborators of these crimes, any honest and rational observer can readily identify them.

By its apparent targeting of Traditional Catholics, is the FBI abetting Francis in the commission of his hate crimes? For sure, the FBI’s efforts have harmed Catholics in the same way that Francis seeks to harm Catholics.

By its apparent targeting of Traditional Catholics, is the FBI abetting Francis in the commission of his hate crimes? For sure, the FBI’s efforts have harmed Catholics in the same way that Francis seeks to harm Catholics. In addition, it is clear that both Francis and the Biden administration have partnered on globalist initiatives that run contrary to Catholic interests, so we can identify a shared motivation for targeting Traditional Catholics. Overall, then, it does not appear entirely unreasonable to suspect that the FBI is indeed abetting Francis in his hate crimes against Traditional Catholics.

Ultimately, though, most Traditional Catholics now expect persecution from both Rome and our governments. If God permits it, He will give us the grace to endure it as good Catholics. In the Lord of the World, Fr. Percy Franklin (who would later become the final pope) sums up how we must respond to these persecutions:

“[T]he mass, prayer, the rosary. These first and last. The world denies their power: it is on their power that Christians must throw all their weight. All things in Jesus Christ—in Jesus Christ, first and last. Nothing else can avail. He must do all, for we can do nothing.”

This must be our program today — trying to be saints until Our Lord intervenes.

Regarding the FBI personnel who have allegedly targeted Traditional Catholics. . . Catholics revere St. Paul, and so we always rejoice at the thought that those who have once persecuted us will eventually embrace the only religion that can bring peace and lead souls to heaven. Many saints in heaven were once adamantly opposed to the sole Ark of Salvation. Besides, God wins in the end and those who oppose His Church will lose everything. That is what Traditional Catholicism can offer — what can Satan and the globalists offer to compete with that?

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

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