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.

Father Ernesto Cardenal died March 1 at the age of 95. (Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters via Catholic News Service)

Voices

The Church and the Cold War, revisited

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 16, 2020|5 Min Read

Limburg Bishop Georg Batzing speaks during a March 3, 2020, news conference in Mainz after being elected as the new president of the German bishops' conference. Bishop Batzing, regarded as an advocate of reforms in the Catholic Church, succeeds Cardinal Reinhard Marx. (CNS photo/Harald Oppitz, KNA)

Voices

German Catholics, California both live up to their billing in Super Tuesday votes

John L. Allen Jr.|Mar 5, 2020|5 Min Read

Pope Francis and prelates from around the world attend a penitential liturgy during a meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican in this Feb. 23, 2019, file photo. (CNS photo/Evandro Inetti, pool)

Voices

Where things stand a year after pope’s historic sexual abuse summit

John L. Allen Jr.|Feb 24, 2020|5 Min Read

Copies of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation, "Querida Amazonia" (Beloved Amazonia), are pictured at a news conference for the release of the exhortation at the Vatican Feb. 12, 2020. The document contains the pope's conclusions from the 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Voices

Playing the spin game in the wake of Pope Francis’ document on the Amazon

John L. Allen Jr.|Feb 17, 2020|5 Min Read

British Archbishop Paul Gallagher, effectively the Vatican’s foreign minister, meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China on Feb. 14. (Holy See Press Office via Crux)

Voices

With the Vatican and China, soft and hard powers collide

John L. Allen Jr.|Feb 16, 2020|5 Min Read

Vatican

Celibacy book uproar illustrates the conundrum of an ‘emeritus pope’

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 16, 2020|5 Min Read

In this June 28, 2017 file photo, Pope Francis, left, and Pope Benedict XVI, meet each other on the occasion of the elevation of five new cardinals at the Vatican. Retired Pope Benedict XVI has broken his silence to reaffirm the value of priestly celibacy, contributing to a bombshell book at the precise moment that Pope Francis is weighing whether to allow married men to be ordained to address the Catholic priest shortage. (L'Osservatore Romano/AP via Crux)

Voices

In tempest over Benedict XVI and book on celibacy, ‘It is as it was’

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 15, 2020|5 Min Read

Iraqi Christians in Baghdad leave Christmas Mass at St. George Chaldean Church Dec. 25, 2019. (CNS photo/Khalid al Mousily, Reuters)

Voices

The urgency of listening to Christians on the ground in the Middle East

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 14, 2020|5 Min Read

Pope Francis embraces a couple with a child at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Gregorio Borgia/AP via Crux)

Voices

Pope hints at broader vision of ‘recovery’ from sex abuse scandals

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 9, 2020|4 Min Read

People hold signs of support near the house of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg on December 29, 2019 in Monsey, New York. Five people were injured in a knife attack during a Hanukkah party and a suspect, identified as Grafton E. Thomas, was later arrested in Harlem. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Voices

Hanukkah party attack a wake-up call on religious hatred, including Christians

John L. Allen Jr.|Jan 6, 2020|5 Min Read

Pope Francis greets emeritus Pope Benedict XVI during an encounter for the elderly in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in 2014. (Catholic News Service/Paul Haring)

Voices

The five most neglected Catholic stories of the last decade

John L. Allen Jr.|Dec 27, 2019|9 Min Read

Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila points to a photo of his maternal grandfather, who emigrated from China to the Philippines. During a Vatican news conference May 23, the cardinal added the photo of his "Lolo Kim" to the mosaic made of the faces of migrants, world leaders and Caritas staff members from around the world. (CNS photo/Robert Duncan)

Voices

New Vatican missionary chief could be pivotal player on China

John L. Allen Jr.|Dec 13, 2019|5 Min Read