John L. Allen Jr.

Crux Now

John L. Allen Jr. was the editor of Crux, specializing in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church, and the Rome correspondent for Angelus from 2016 to 2025.

Latest by John L. Allen Jr.

The Church of St. Martin the Bishop in Italy's far northern Dolomite mountains. (Facebook capture via Crux)

Voices

Story of pastor dead from worry captures verdict on Catholic culture

John L. Allen Jr.|Apr 12, 2021|5 Min Read

In this Oct. 6, 2004 file photo, Hans Küng, attends the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Hans Küng, the Roman Catholic theologian who was an early colleague and friend of the future Pope Benedict XVI but later fell foul of the Vatican for challenging church doctrine and became a vocal critic of the pontiff, has died. He was 93. Küng died Tuesday April 6, 2021, at his home in Tuebingen, according to the Global Ethic Foundation, or Stiftung Weltethos in German, which he established in 1995. (Michael Probst/AP via Crux)

Voices

Küng, original celebrity theologian and liberal muse, dead at 93

John L. Allen Jr.|Apr 7, 2021|6 Min Read

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018. (CNS/Erik de Castro, Reuters)

Voices

In the Philippines, Duterte poses a crucial Catholic conundrum

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 31, 2021|5 Min Read

Police officers guard near a church where an explosion went off in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sunday, March 28, 2021. (Yusuf Wahil/AP via Crux)

Voices

A reminder that Holy Week is prime time for anti-Christian violence

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 29, 2021|5 Min Read

Cologne's archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki, center, attends a news conference on a report of abuse by clergy in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, March 18, 2021. Faced with accusations of trying to cover up sexual violence in Germany's most powerful Roman Catholic diocese, the archbishop of Cologne publishes the independent investigation. (Ina Fassbender/Pool via AP, image via Crux)

Voices

Each Catholic culture brews a controversy made to order

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 21, 2021|5 Min Read

Hassan Mani, centre, father of freed schoolboy Abdulganiyu Hassan, outside his house in Kankara, Nigeria, Saturday Dec. 19, 2020. Nigeria's freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country's northwest. Relieved parents hugged their sons tightly on Saturday in Kankara, where more than 340 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary school on the night of Dec. 11. (Sunday Alamba/AP via Crux)

World

Poll finds that on anti-Christian persecution, U.S. Catholics now get it

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 19, 2021|5 Min Read

Priests in St. Peter's Basilica process to the altar where St. John Paul II is buried at the Vatican on Feb. 13, 2020. Dozens of priests concelebrate an early morning Mass at the tomb every Thursday. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)

Voices

Benign, cynical readings of Vatican liturgical moves both seem plausible

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 18, 2021|5 Min Read

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo attends a 2017 interfaith prayer service in Yangon, Myanmar. (Catholic News Service/Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters)

Voices

Catholic cardinal may be key in majority Buddhist Myanmar

John L. Allen Jr.|Feb 15, 2021|5 Min Read

Anthony Blinken, President Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of state, speaks during his confirmation hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Jan. 19, 2021. Blinken told a Senate committee he agreed outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that China was committing genocide against Uighur Muslims and other minorities. (CNS photo/Graeme Jennings, pool via Reuters)

Voices

US/Vatican ties may change under Biden, but probably not on China

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 25, 2021|5 Min Read

Worshipers pray during a March 22, 2020, Mass at St. Gabriel Church in Abuja, Nigeria. (Catholic News Service/Afolabi Sotunde, Reuters)

Voices

Why is it so dangerous to be a Christian in Nigeria?

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 21, 2021|5 Min Read

Judge Rosario Livatino. (Wikimedia Commons via Crux)

Voices

Italian judge latest example of Church’s new test for ‘martyrdom’

John L. Allen Jr.|Dec 23, 2020|5 Min Read

A women wearing a protective masks pray during Mass in late July at the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family in Nairobi, Kenya, during the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS Photo/Thomas Mukoya, Reuters)

Voices

Demography has saved Africa from Covid. Will it save the Church?

John L. Allen Jr.|Nov 25, 2020|4 Min Read