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.

Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople meet privately at the Vatican Sept. 17. (Vatican Media/Catholic News Service)

Voices

Could the reunion between Catholics and Orthodox be closer than we thought?

John L. Allen Jr.|Dec 10, 2019|5 Min Read

Father Johann Baptist Metz in 2001. (Stock image via Crux)

Voices

Catholic theology loses a giant with a sense of humor in Metz

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

Women recite the rosary prior to a Mass for Catholics of Nigerian descent July 21, 2019, at St. Thomas the Apostle Chapel in West Hempstead, N.Y. The liturgy capped a four-day revival/retreat that provided an opportunity to more than 600 participants from the New York metropolitan area and beyond to renew their spiritual lives while celebrating their faith, culture and ancestry. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz via Crux)

World

Pan-African summit to tell Africa’s “Best of Times, Worst of Times” tale

John L. Allen Jr.|Dec 1, 2019|5 Min Read

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president-elect of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, responds to a question during a news conference at the fall general assembly of the USCCB in Baltimore Nov. 12. Also pictured are Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of Hartford, Connecticut. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Nation

US bishops deliver both style and substance in choice of new leaders

John L. Allen Jr.|Nov 18, 2019|5 Min Read

Vatican

Unanswered questions abound in latest Vatican financial kerfuffle

John L. Allen Jr.|Nov 8, 2019|5 Min Read

The banners of new saints are reflected in a woman's sunglasses before the canonization Mass for five new saints celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 13, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Voices

Sainthood offers a badly needed lesson in perspective

John L. Allen Jr.|Nov 1, 2019|5 Min Read

Pope Francis accepts a plant during the offertory as he celebrates the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 27, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Voices

Hang on, because the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon isn’t actually over

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 30, 2019|4 Min Read

In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, members of Amazon indigenous populations walk during a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession from St. Angelo Castle to the Vatican. In foreground is a wooden statue portraying a naked pregnant woman. Pope Francis’s meeting on the Amazon is wrapping up after three weeks of debate over married priests, the environment _ and the destruction of indigenous statues that underscored the willingness of conservatives to violently vent their opposition to the pope. (Andrew Medichini/AP via Crux)

World

Pope apologizes for theft of Pachamama, says she’ll be back on Sunday

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 25, 2019|3 Min Read

Retired Bishop Erwin Kräutler of Xingu, Brazil, speak at a press briefing following a session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 9, 2019. Also pictured is scientist Carlos Alfonso Nobre, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Voices

Synod on the Amazon producing some surprises along the way

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 18, 2019|5 Min Read

Vatican

Global perspective is the glass-half-full case for a Synod of Bishops

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 14, 2019|5 Min Read

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops from 2005 to 2010, attend Pope Francis's celebration of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 14, 2019. (CNS photo/Stefano Dal Pozzolo, pool via Crux)

Voices

Could the Amazon synod be Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s last hurrah?

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 10, 2019|6 Min Read

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, General Rapporteur for the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, left, shares a word with Pope Francis on the occasion of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, in the Vatican gardens, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. The ceremony took place two days before a Synod of bishops on the Pan-Amazon region opened at the Vatican to address the ecological, social and spiritual needs of indigenous peoples in the Amazon. (Alessandra Tarantino/AP via Crux)

Vatican

Chair of pope’s Amazon summit puts married priests, women squarely on the table

John L. Allen Jr.|Oct 7, 2019|6 Min Read