By Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
OSV News – John Allen, the editor-in-chief of Crux whose decades-long career in journalism defined him as one of the authoritative voices on the Vatican and the Catholic Church, has died at the age of 61.
Allen passed away in Rome Jan. 22, after battling cancer since 2022. He is survived by his wife, Elise Ann Allen, Crux’s senior Vatican correspondent.
In February 2025, Allen updated readers on his cancer diagnosis and asked them to keep him in their prayers.
“Never in my life have I believed more in the power of intercessory prayer than I do right now,” he said.
Several months later, in a second update, he chronicled his treatment for stomach cancer and noted that “without the tireless daily support of my wife, Elise Allen, I’m sure I probably would have imploded.”
He also expressed his gratitude to doctors, friends he regarded as family, and Crux readers for their messages of support and prayers.
“Over the years, I’ve often used the term ‘the Crux family’ to refer to the extended network of people who read our site, who consume our other media, and who interact with our coverage,” he wrote. “I know that formula these days can often be a sort of corporate catchphrase, or a marketing ploy, but I’ve never been more convinced than I am right now that when it comes to Crux, it’s not just words.”
Born in Hays, Kansas, in 1965, Allen taught journalism and supervised the student-run newspaper at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. He was previously married to Shannon Levitt, a teacher and later Crux’s business manager and copy editor.
Among the students he inspired to pursue journalism was Stacy Meichtry, Paris bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, who was on the school newspaper staff.
“John would spend long hours with us after school, putting the paper together in time for a weekly deadline,” Meichtry recalled. “I think this was actually his first taste of journalism as a teacher, which is interesting when you think about the role he would play much later.”
After establishing himself in Rome, Allen gained prominence in 2000 with the publication of his first major biography of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Meichtry recalled that before then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s ascension to the papacy, “it had been decades since anyone covered a conclave.”
“The internet was still in its infancy, so information on how exactly the Catholic Church went about picking a Pope was very scarce. John changed all that. His book ‘Conclave’ became a must-read for any journalist, including myself, on how to prepare for a papal death and election,” he told OSV News.
And while Allen’s deep knowledge of the Vatican’s inner workings made him known as “the guy with his finger on the pulse,” for Meichtry, “he was a mentor like no other.”
“His knowledge was encyclopedic. He was both brilliant and generous, which is a rare combination. He taught me journalism, but he also taught me about life. I’m going to miss him,” Meichtry said.
After teaching journalism, Allen joined the National Catholic Reporter in 1997 and subsequently established its Rome bureau in 2000.
“He was a giant of specialized journalism,” said Marco Carroggio, professor at the School of Church Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. “I think he is going to be a reference for future generations.”
Carroggio recalled meeting Allen in 1998. At the time, Carroggio was handling communications for a conference hosted by Opus Dei and received a call from someone speaking Italian in a heavy American accent.
That call, he said, was the starting point of their nearly three-decade-long friendship.
Carroggio noted that Allen was a consistent presence in many conferences in Rome and always interested in “understanding the depth of the debates and understanding the different positions.”
“What caught my attention was that many times, he didn’t publish anything from those conferences. But he broadened his view, so all this made his information and writings form a vision that was nuanced and profound, showing you all the polyhedral sides of reality,” he told OSV News.
That vast understanding of all things Catholic served Allen well at CNN as a Vatican analyst following the death of St. John Paul II and the subsequent election of Pope Benedict XVI.
“John Allen was the best Anglophone Vaticanista in the business during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI,” said American theologian and author George Weigel. “We were friends and colleagues but never competitors, because we shared information and impressions freely, not least at ‘our table’ at the Taverna Giulia” in Rome, he told OSV News.
For Delia Gallagher, who worked alongside Allen at CNN for two decades, the most important thing about John was that he was “a loyal and real friend.”
“One thing I do think about John, in terms of his life, is that he was somebody who really found his vocation and really lived it with a passion, and that was, I think, a gift to him and a gift to Catholic journalism: to really love what you do and do it with joy and, therefore, be completely above any kind of competition or jealousy,” Gallagher told OSV News.
His passion for journalism, she added, was “inspiring” and what people saw “in John was that he really loved what he did 100% and felt called to it.”
“That’s why he was great at it. He was the best at explaining things in a fair way. Even in private conversations, he really didn’t show any signs of bias. He was very, very fair, always taking both sides, looking at it from different angles, and certainly always speaking to people,” Gallagher said.
Allen left NCR in 2014 and joined the Boston Globe, where he launched Crux. Two years later, after the Boston Globe ended its sponsorship of Crux, Allen relaunched the news site independently, becoming its president and editor-in-chief.
Gallagher, who was with Allen when he announced Crux’s relaunch in 2016 at the Pontifical North American College, said it was “a standout moment.”
“He was so proud; it was such a big moment for him,” she recalled. “I remember asking him once what would be his dream vision of his professional life. And he said it was starting Crux, because he could give younger journalists a launching pad. For him, that was his legacy.”
Among those whose careers in journalism began at Crux was Claire Giangravè, Vatican correspondent for Religion News Service.
Giangravè told OSV News that Allen hired her as Crux’s Faith and Culture correspondent in 2019, shortly after she graduated from college.
“Despite my inexperience, John immediately gave me the chance to meet, interview, and move among the people and prelates who shape life inside Vatican City,” she said.
“He impressed upon me, and on all of his colleagues, the absolute importance of fairness and balance, which he considered essential to journalism,” Giangravè told OSV News. “He urged us to cover the Holy See no differently than we would the White House: with rigor, without deference and with tough questions when they were warranted.”
But for Giangravè, Allen was above all a “genuine cheerleader” who “often showed more enthusiasm for uplifting others than for promoting himself.”
“He accepted interview requests from anyone, regardless of the size of the outlet, and always made time to speak with younger or lesser-known journalists,” she said. “In today’s highly polarized Church, John Allen’s balanced and nuanced voice – along with his ubiquitous sports references – leaves an unfillable void in the small world of Vatican reporting.”
Allen continued to appear on CNN as a Vatican analyst throughout the papacies of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, and in 2025, he served as a CBS News contributor during the election of Pope Leo XIV.
Throughout his career, he was a highly sought-after public speaker, speaking at conferences and events around the globe. He wrote 11 books on the Vatican and the Catholic Church, ranging in topics from the Benedict and Francis papacies to the persecution of Christians around the world.
For his accomplishments and expertise, he garnered attention and praise, with the London Tablet calling him “the most authoritative writer on Vatican affairs in the English language.”
But what some may not know, with the exception of his family, close friends and Crux readers, was that John was an avid home cook and an Italian food aficionado. So much so, that he once stated in an editorial piece that “a compelling history of the Catholic Church could be written in the form of an Italian cookbook.”
And among those who had a taste of his quasi-reverential treatment of Italian cuisine was none other than Pope Leo.
Following the Pope’s election in 2025, Allen recalled inviting then-Cardinal Robert Prevost to his home, where he cooked him “a four-course Italian meal.”
“About halfway through this meal, I realized that this was a fairly prodigious feast we’re putting in front of this guy,” Allen told CBS News. “And I said, ‘Cardinal, don’t feel obligated to eat everything if you’re not hungry anymore.’ And he said, ‘Where I come from, when food is put in front of you, you eat it.'”
Those who had the privilege of knowing him say he wasn’t just an inexhaustible font of knowledge and wisdom on all things Vatican (as well as a connoisseur of the classic Roman pasta dish, bucatini all’amatriciana, although some argue his favorite was penne alla vodka), he was also sharp-witted, engaging, extremely funny and disarmingly humble.
And the home he shared in Rome with Elise and their two pugs was always ready to welcome whoever had the fortune of crossing its doors. Whether it was a lowly journalist itching to learn the ins and outs of the Eternal City or a future Pope, there was always a seat at the table.
Rest in peace, John.
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.