(LifeSiteNews) — An FBI whistleblower who exposed the Biden administration for spying on Latin Mass Catholics two years ago issued a blistering critique of U.S. Catholic Bishop Joe Vásquez for his support of open borders.
“I will not be separating myself or my family from the Word or the Eucharist. But you can expect that I will not support this corrupt and lawless advocacy against the principles of national sovereignty and responsible governance. Shame on you, Bishop Vásquez,” Kyle Seraphin said on X today.
Hey @AustinDiocese – My parish is reading your Leftist propaganda “letter” at Mass this Sunday decrying the unfairness of @realDonaldTrump‘s immigration policy.
As of today, I will cease financially contributing to the Parish or the Diocese. I’ll find ways to give charity… pic.twitter.com/oLHwGvDv9i
— Kyle Seraphin (@KyleSeraphin) January 26, 2025
Seraphin made national news in 2023 when he released a bombshell memo that revealed the FBI was monitoring Latin Mass Catholic communities. Leading Congressional figures, pundits, and current US President Donald Trump all weighed in on the matter, which helped Trump win the Catholic vote by a massive 15-point margin in last year’s presidential race. The FBI eventually retracted the memo and launched an investigation, determining that there was “no malicious intent” behind its efforts.
Seraphin, a Catholic, issued his X post on Sunday morning after Vásquez apparently directed priests in the Diocese of Austin to read from the pulpit a letter on the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The letter, presumably the one released by the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops on January 24, so incensed Seraphin that he decided to stop tithing to the church.
“As of today, I will cease financially contributing to the Parish or the Diocese. I’ll find ways to give charity directly to those in need as I did last year,” he said.
Seraphin also accused Vásquez, who has just been named Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, of pushing “radical Marxist/Liberation Theology” and of “fail(ing) to grasp that the current U.S. immigration situation directly leads to the rape, abuse, and enslavement of those who are trafficked and smuggled across the border.”
“I haven’t seen your cries for the homeless veterans who served America. I don’t see you reaching out for those in rural parts of America struggling,” Seraphin also said.
Seraphin isn’t the only public figure upset with Catholic clergy. Vice President JD Vance likewise made news this weekend after calling out the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for its opposition to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
During an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Vance said that if the USCCB is “worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide-open border of Joe Biden.”
VANCE: “I believe the US Conference of Catholic Bishops — if they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide open border.” pic.twitter.com/Je2WsYXF6J
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 26, 2025
Under the Biden presidency, the Catholic Church in the United States reportedly received $2.4 billion in federal payments to facilitate the trafficking of migrants. In contrast, during Trump’s first administration, the Church received only $384 million.
That funding was received through Catholic Charities, Catholic Social Services, and the USCCB directly. In 2024 alone, the USCCB received $219 million from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of State. Last April, left-wing El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, the USCCB’s migration committee chair, submitted a lengthy letter to Congress urging lawmakers to spend $20 billion on various social justice initiatives, including the USCCB’s immigration programs.
Ten days ago, Barbara Graham, program director and immigration attorney for Catholic Charities, released a video on YouTube advising illegal immigrants on how to avoid being deported. The video has gone viral on X today, prompting scores of conservative influencers to call on the Trump administration to defund the USCCB.
“Catholic Charities” video tells illegal immigrants: “You do not need to speak to the immigration authorities or answer any questions.” pic.twitter.com/kZ9QgzAE2e
— Fr. Dave Nix (@FrDaveNix) January 27, 2025
In an X post earlier this month, former apostolic nuncio to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò defended the deportations as a policy supportable by natural law but opposed by the “Bergoglian Hierarchy, the Democratic Party and the NGOs attributable to George Soros.” He added that “stopping illegal immigration would make them lose an inexhaustible source of profit, paid for by citizens’ taxes.”