John L. Allen Jr. | |
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Born | January 20, 1965 |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | |
Occupation(s) | Religion journalist and author |
Years active | 1997–present |
Employer | Crux |
John L. Allen Jr. (born January 20, 1965) is an American journalist and author who serves as editor of the Catholic news website Crux , formerly hosted by The Boston Globe and now independently funded.
Before moving to The Boston Globe when Crux was established in 2014, Allen worked for 17 years in Rome as a Vatican watcher, covering the Holy See and the Pope for the National Catholic Reporter. He also serves as a Senior Vatican Analyst for CNN, and featured in broadcast coverage of the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. Allen is the St. Francis de Sales Fellow of Communication and Media at the Word on Fire Institute founded by Bishop Robert Barron. Allen is the author of numerous books about the Catholic Church. He has written two biographies of Pope Benedict XVI.
Born in 1965, [1] Allen grew up in Hays, Kansas. [2] He graduated from Capuchin-founded [3] Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in 1983. [4] He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Fort Hays State University and a master's degree in religious studies from the University of Kansas. From 1993 until 1997, Allen taught journalism and oversaw the student-run newspaper, The Knight, at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.
During the coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II, Allen frequently appeared on CNN. He then became the Senior Vatican Analyst for CNN. He also delivers lectures discussing Vatican issues and his latest works.
In 2014, Allen took up a position as associate editor with The Boston Globe and helped to launch its website, Crux . [5] In 2016, the Globe transferred ownership of the Crux website and its intellectual property to Allen. It now operates on the basis of advertising income, syndication and licensing as well as support from benefactors. Allen and his wife, Elise, who also serves as a Senior Correspondent for Crux, live in Rome.
Allen has received a number of honorary doctorates from universities:
In addition to this column and occasional other pieces for NCR, Allen's work as a journalist has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, The Tablet, Jesus, Second Opinion, The Nation, the Miami Herald, Die Furche, and the Irish Examiner.
Allen has written, among other books, two biographies of Pope Benedict XVI. The first was written before then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became pope, the other after his election to the papacy. In 2000, Allen published Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, the first biography of Ratzinger in English. [10] Several reviewers criticized it as being biased against Ratzinger. Joseph Komonchak called it "Manichaean journalism." [11] After some examination, Allen concluded that this criticism was valid. [12] In his next biography of Ratzinger, The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church (2005), Allen tried to be fair to all sides and viewpoints. Allen acknowledged that his first book was "unbalanced" because it was his first book and was written, he wrote, "before I arrived in Rome and before I really knew a lot about the universal church." In that acknowledgement he said the first biography "gives prominent voice to criticisms of Ratzinger; it does not give equally prominent voice to how he himself would see some of these issues." [13]
In 2005 he published a book about Opus Dei, Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church . Allen said that one of his reasons for writing his study of Opus Dei was that he felt that liberal and conservative Catholics were too often shouting at each other, and he hoped that a book that tried to be fair to all sides would lead to civilized discussion. According to John Romanowsky of Godspy , Allen's ability to report objectively, without revealing his personal opinion, has been called "maddening". [14]
Kenneth L. Woodward, former religion editor for Newsweek , wrote in 2005: "Outside of the North Korean government in Pyongyang, no bureaucracy is harder for a journalist to crack than the Vatican's. And no one does it better than John L. Allen Jr. ... In just three years, Allen has become the journalist other reporters—and not a few cardinals—look to for the inside story on how all the pope's men direct the world's largest church." [15]
Allen was critical of how the Vatican communicated the decision to lift the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. [16]
Pope Benedict XVI was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known as "Pope emeritus" upon his resignation, and he retained this title until his death in 2022.
Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928 by Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members to seek Christian perfection in their everyday occupations and within their societies. Opus Dei has long attracted significant controversy regarding its political activities and its alleged cult-like practices.
Papabile is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man, in practice always a cardinal, who is thought a likely or possible candidate to be elected pope.
Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and, from 1991 onward, a cardinal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006; Sodano was the first person since 1828 to serve simultaneously as Dean and Secretary of State.
A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a successor to John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Upon the pope's death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave. Of the 117 eligible members of the College of Cardinals, those younger than 80 years of age at the time of the death of Pope John Paul II, all but two attended. After several days of private meetings attended by both cardinal electors and non-voting cardinals, the conclave began on 18 April 2005. It ended the following day after four ballots with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals and Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ratzinger was the first member of the Roman Curia to become pope since Pius XII, elected in 1939. After accepting his election, he took the name Benedict XVI.
Julián Herranz Casado is a Spanish cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts in the Roman Curia from 1994 to 2007, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.
Alfredo Ottaviani was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII named him cardinal in 1953. He served as secretary of the Holy Office in the Roman Curia from 1959 to 1966 when that dicastery was reorganised as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which he was pro-prefect until 1968.
Opus Dei and Catholic Church Leaders discusses the comments and observations of popes, cardinals, and other leaders of the Catholic Church as regards the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.
This is a bibliography of works about Opus Dei, also known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, which was founded by Josemaría Escrivá.
Bruno Forte is an Italian Roman Catholic theologian and ecclesiastic, currently Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto.
Canonization of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer discusses John Paul II's decision to canonize Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, more commonly known as Opus Dei.
Carlo Maria Martini was an Italian Jesuit, cardinal of the Catholic Church and a Biblical scholar. He was Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2004 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983. A towering intellectual figure of the Roman Catholic Church, Martini was the liberal contender for the Papacy in the 2005 conclave, following the death of Pope John Paul II. According to highly placed Vatican sources, Martini received more votes in the first round than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the conservative candidate: 40 to 38. Ratzinger ended up with more votes in subsequent rounds and was elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Carlo Caffarra was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Bologna from 2003 until 2015, when he retired. His previous positions included President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family from 1981 to 1995 and Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio from 1995 to 2003. He was created a Cardinal in the consistory of 24 March 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Achille Silvestrini was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served in the Vatican diplomatic corps, either in Rome or abroad, from 1953 to 1990, and later as Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 1991 to 2000.
Francesco Coccopalmerio is an Italian cardinal. He was president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 February 2007 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on 7 April 2018. He spent his early years in the Archdiocese of Milan and became an auxiliary bishop in 1993. He moved to the Roman Curia in 2000.
The media coverage of Catholic sex abuse cases is a major aspect of the academic literature surrounding the pederastic priest scandal.
Pope Benedict XVI created 90 cardinals in five consistories. With three of those consistories he respected the limit on the number of cardinal electors set at 120 in 1973, though sometimes exceeded by his predecessors. He exceeded that limit at the other two consistories, reaching as high as 125 in 2012.
Pope Francis has created cardinals at nine consistories held at roughly annual intervals beginning in 2014, most recently on 30 September 2023. The cardinals created by Francis include 142 cardinals from 70 countries, 24 of which had never been represented in the College of Cardinals. His appointments include the first Scandinavian since the Reformation, the first from Goa since an episcopal see was established there in 1533, the first from Latin America's indigenous peoples, the first from India's Dalit class, and the first active head of a religious congregation.
In the course of his papacy, Benedict XVI issued two documents altering certain details of the procedures for electing a pope: De electione romani pontificis on 11 June 2007 and Normas nonnullas on 22 February 2013. These instructions amended the extensive set of rules and procedures issued on 22 February 1996 by his predecessor John Paul II in his apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis.
Crux is an online newspaper that focuses on news related to the Catholic Church. From September 2014 until March 2016, it was owned by The Boston Globe. Since April 2016, it has been independently owned.
It is no secret to regular readers of this column that I have a special affection for the Capuchins, who had the Christian charity to put up with me in grade school and high school in Hays, Kansas in the late 1970s and early 1980s.