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The third conspiracy theory which gained ground within years of the assassination was the theory that Lincoln was killed on orders of the Roman Catholic Church.  The feeling of Americans from at least the [[Andrew Jackson]] administration was that the Catholic Church was a threat to American democracy, which increased with the arrival of waves of [[Ireland|Irish]] immigrants as a result of the [[Potato Famine]] of the 1840s; that the Church was involved in a plot to kill the president was heightened by a newspaper reporter named George Alfred Thompson who stated within a month of the killing that all the conspirators passing through the doors of the Surratt house were Catholic.  Despite the fact that only the Surratts and Dr. Mudd were Catholic, Thompson's error stuck, and his accusation circulated as though it was a fact.  It did not help the Church's situation in that regard when John Surratt was discovered in the [[Vatican]] in 1868, wearing the uniform of the [[Swiss Papal Guard]]s (he was subsequently brought to trial and acquitted).  

The third conspiracy theory which gained ground within years of the assassination was the theory that Lincoln was killed on orders of the Roman Catholic Church.  The feeling of Americans from at least the [[Andrew Jackson]] administration was that the Catholic Church was a threat to American democracy, which increased with the arrival of waves of [[Ireland|Irish]] immigrants as a result of the [[Potato Famine]] of the 1840s; that the Church was involved in a plot to kill the president was heightened by a newspaper reporter named George Alfred Thompson who stated within a month of the killing that all the conspirators passing through the doors of the Surratt house were Catholic.  Despite the fact that only the Surratts and Dr. Mudd were Catholic, Thompson's error stuck, and his accusation circulated as though it was a fact.  It did not help the Church's situation in that regard when John Surratt was discovered in the [[Vatican]] in 1868, wearing the uniform of the [[Swiss Papal Guard]]s (he was subsequently brought to trial and acquitted).  

In 1886, a former (and possibly defrocked) Roman Catholic priest named Charles Chiniquy published ''Fifty Years in the Church of Rome'', an account of his life, and the trials he faced, while serving the Catholic Church.  Although he devoted little to Lincoln, he emphatically stated that "...the president, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated by the priests and [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] of [[Rome]]."  For Chiniquy it began when he asked Lincoln to defend himself in a "personal impropriety" lawsuit brought against him by a friend of his former [[bishop]] near [[Kankakee, Illinois]], in the 1850s.  When the verdict was read, and Chiniquy emerged the victor, he pointed out the faces of his accusers and told Lincoln that he read "a sentence of death."  He would visit the White House three times while Lincoln was in office, or so he claimed; he quoted Lincoln as having said "This war would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits.  We owe it to [[Pope]]ry that we now see our land reddened with the blood of her noblest sons."  What Chiniquy faced between himself and his former Catholic superiors prior to 1860 may or may not be true; what is known is that, according to White House records, Chiniquy was never in the building.  He did write to Lincoln on occasion, but nothing close to a level of friendship that was described in his book.  Contradicting what Chiniquy had described in his book, the [[Illinois]] lawsuit case ''Spink v. Chiniquy'' was trivial; it was nothing more than simple slander, and as with most of his cases, Lincoln settled this one out of court on amicable terms to both parties. [http://www.geocities.com/chiniquy/lincoln_writings_2.html][http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/16.2/steiner.html]

In 1886, a former (and possibly defrocked) Roman Catholic priest named Charles Chiniquy published ''Fifty Years in the Church of Rome'', an account of his life, and the trials he faced, while serving the Catholic Church.  Although he devoted little to Lincoln, he emphatically stated that "...the president, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated by the priests and [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] of [[Rome]]."  For Chiniquy it began when he asked Lincoln to defend himself in a "personal impropriety" lawsuit brought against him by a friend of his former [[bishop]] near [[Kankakee, Illinois]], in the 1850s.  When the verdict was read, and Chiniquy emerged the victor, he pointed out the faces of his accusers and told Lincoln that he read "a sentence of death."  He would visit the White House three times while Lincoln was in office, or so he claimed; he quoted Lincoln as having said "This war would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits.  We owe it to [[Pope]]ry that we now see our land reddened with the blood of her noblest sons."  What Chiniquy faced between himself and his former Catholic superiors prior to 1860 may or may not be true; what is known is that, according to White House records, Chiniquy was never in the building.  He did write to Lincoln on occasion, but nothing close to a level of friendship that was described in his book.  Contradicting completely what Chiniquy had written, the [[Illinois]] lawsuit case ''Spink v. Chiniquy'' was trivial; it was nothing more than simple slander, and as with most of his cases, Lincoln settled this one out of court on amicable terms to both parties. [http://www.geocities.com/chiniquy/lincoln_writings_2.html][http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/16.2/steiner.html]

In 1891 Benedict Guldner, a Jesuit priest in New York City, had written to Lincoln's former personnal secretary John G. Nicolay and asked for information about what he called a "libellous pamphlet" then circulating in Germany and "originally written in this country...in which the author maintains that the assassination of President Lincoln was the work of Jesuits." Nicolay had consulted with Lincoln's other personal secretary, John Hay, as both were by then aware of the writngs of Chiniquy and the Roman Catholic conspiracy.  Both declared the pamphlet - and the conspiracy allegations - to be blatently false.  Nicolay replied to Guldner:

In 1891 Benedict Guldner, a Jesuit priest in New York City, had written to Lincoln's former personnal secretary John G. Nicolay and asked for information about what he called a "libellous pamphlet" then circulating in Germany and "originally written in this country...in which the author maintains that the assassination of President Lincoln was the work of Jesuits." Nicolay had consulted with Lincoln's other personal secretary, John Hay, as both were by then aware of the writings of Chiniquy and the Roman Catholic conspiracy.  Both declared the pamphlet - and the conspiracy allegations - to be blatently false.  Nicolay replied to Guldner:

:''"To [y]our first question whether in our studies on the life of Lincoln we came upon the charge that 'the assasination of President Lincoln was the work of Jesuits', we answer that we have read such a charge in a lengthy newspaper publication. To your second question, viz: 'If you did come across it, did the accusation seem to you to be entirely groundless?', we answer Yes. It seemed to us so entirely groundless as not to merit any attention on our part."'' [http://www.geocities.com/chiniquy/lincoln_writings.html]

:''"To [y]our first question whether in our studies on the life of Lincoln we came upon the charge that 'the assasination of President Lincoln was the work of Jesuits', we answer that we have read such a charge in a lengthy newspaper publication. To your second question, viz: 'If you did come across it, did the accusation seem to you to be entirely groundless?', we answer Yes. It seemed to us so entirely groundless as not to merit any attention on our part."'' [http://www.geocities.com/chiniquy/lincoln_writings.html]