The Pope Did It?

[Dave Taylor]

"In 1867, the U.S. Congress banned the funding of diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and did not formally resume until 117 years later, 1984."

Reference that last paragraph, I remember asking years ago if the diplomatic relations were banned as a result of the harboring of John Surratt, Jr. No one ever gave me an answer.

Considering that the Papal States were actually willing and tried to assist the U.S. in capturing and turning over John Surratt during a time when there was no extradition treaty between the two nations, I have a hard time believing that the John Surratt incident soured the relationship. It was quite surprising that the Papal States were willing to help and one of our diplomats wrote later that a letter of appreciation should be written by the President for their help.

We received far more assistance from the Papal States in retrieving John Surratt than we did from the Kingdom of Italy or Malta. Both those "countries" refused to help capture him even when it was known he was there. The boat John Surratt took to Alexandria, Egypt stopped in Malta to take on supplies and the authorities there refused to arrest or extradite John Surratt. Luckily for us, the authorities in Egypt sort of just allowed the U.S. diplomats there to arrest John Surratt on their own without interference.