John Allen, Vatican Correspondent- The Future Church- saltandlighttv February 08, 2011 John L. Allen, Jr, is the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for CNN …More
John Allen, Vatican Correspondent- The Future Church-
saltandlighttv February 08, 2011 John L. Allen, Jr, is the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio (NPR). He is a renowned author, lecturer, journalist, teacher and articulate layman of the Church. In Roman circles, he has been called "the best English-language Vatican reporter in history." Join Fr. Thomas Rosica for this intriguing interview with one of the best "Vaticanistas" and journalists of our times.
saltandlighttv February 08, 2011 John L. Allen, Jr, is the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio (NPR). He is a renowned author, lecturer, journalist, teacher and articulate layman of the Church. In Roman circles, he has been called "the best English-language Vatican reporter in history." Join Fr. Thomas Rosica for this intriguing interview with one of the best "Vaticanistas" and journalists of our times.
The Final Days of John Paul II
Excerpted from The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church
Chapter 1
When Karol Wojtyla was elected to the Throne of Peter on October 16, 1978, the world was dazzled by his sheer physical force. He was, to invoke a tired expression, a "man's man"-rugged, handsome, brimming with energy and self-…More
The Final Days of John Paul II
Excerpted from The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church
Chapter 1
When Karol Wojtyla was elected to the Throne of Peter on October 16, 1978, the world was dazzled by his sheer physical force. He was, to invoke a tired expression, a "man's man"-rugged, handsome, brimming with energy and self-confidence. Fr. Andrew Greeley, the American novelist and sociologist, rightly observed that he looked like a linebacker in American football. Archbishop Michael Miller, today a senior Vatican official, who at the time of Wojtyla's election was a junior cleric in the Secretariat of State, said in a January 2005 reminiscence that from the moment John Paul II stepped out onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, "He simply dominated that space. He looked like he had been pope forever."
In the press coverage from those early years, the Pope was dubbed "God's athlete." He skied, climbed mountains, swam, and had an undying passion for the outdoors. The story of his nomination to be a bishop in Poland, when he had to interrupt a camping trip in order to accept and then went immediately back to kayaking after he had signed the paperwork, became the stuff of legend. At the table, the Pope had the hearty appetite of a man who once worked in the Solvay salt quarry outside Krakow; he could wolf down a plate of Polish sausage and potatoes, and a glass of beer, with obvious gusto. Even when he was wearing his pontifical vestments and saying Mass, he projected a raw physical energy.
When he traveled, he kept up a brutal schedule that left his aides, as well as the journalists who traveled with him, exhausted. It seemed that he chafed against the very limits of time and space, so brimming was he with determination and drive. In 1979, for example, he took a nine-day trip to the United States and Ireland, and over the course of that time he delivered a staggering seventy-six speeches, which works out to roughly eight and a half speeches per day. Oral tradition in the press corps that followed the Pope has it that at one point, exhausted reporters tossed a message up to the front section of the papal plane asking for a day off, which produced a smile from John Paul II, as if to say, "I dare you to keep up."
This was a pope who understood the virtue of keeping in shape. Upon his election, he ordered a swimming pool installed at Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer residence outside Rome. When some in the Roman Curia, the papal bureaucracy, objected to the expense, he replied, "It's cheaper than holding another conclave." Coming fast on the death of his predecessor, Pope John Paul I, after just thirty-three days, his point was well taken.
John Paul II's astounding drive did not, of course, come just from his physical strength. He also had a deep, unwavering confidence in divine providence, that God would not send him any burden that was not accompanied by the strength to bear it, and that everything that happened to him was according to cosmic design. It was his firm belief, for example, that on May 13, 1981, the Virgin Mary altered the flight path of would-be assassin Mohammed Ali Agca's bullet in order to save his life and prolong his papacy. May 13 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, and on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt, John Paul II traveled to Fatima in Portugal in order to lay the bullet that doctors had removed from his body before the statue of the Virgin, thanking her for coming to his aide. The motto of his pontificate was Totus tuus, "totally yours," meaning that he had offered it to the Virgin Mary, and now he believed she had returned the favor.
It was in part that belief in providence that allowed John Paul II to bear the sufferings and ailments of his final years, not just with grim determination, but with serenity and good humor. Always the "great communicator," John Paul learned to use his growing physical limits-the Parkinson's disease, hip ailments, breathing problems, and arthritis-as another set of tools in his evangelizing toolbox, capitalizing on his infirmity as a "teaching moment" about the value and dignity of human life from the beginning to the end.
www.enotalone.com/article/5154.html
Excerpted from The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church
Chapter 1
When Karol Wojtyla was elected to the Throne of Peter on October 16, 1978, the world was dazzled by his sheer physical force. He was, to invoke a tired expression, a "man's man"-rugged, handsome, brimming with energy and self-confidence. Fr. Andrew Greeley, the American novelist and sociologist, rightly observed that he looked like a linebacker in American football. Archbishop Michael Miller, today a senior Vatican official, who at the time of Wojtyla's election was a junior cleric in the Secretariat of State, said in a January 2005 reminiscence that from the moment John Paul II stepped out onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, "He simply dominated that space. He looked like he had been pope forever."
In the press coverage from those early years, the Pope was dubbed "God's athlete." He skied, climbed mountains, swam, and had an undying passion for the outdoors. The story of his nomination to be a bishop in Poland, when he had to interrupt a camping trip in order to accept and then went immediately back to kayaking after he had signed the paperwork, became the stuff of legend. At the table, the Pope had the hearty appetite of a man who once worked in the Solvay salt quarry outside Krakow; he could wolf down a plate of Polish sausage and potatoes, and a glass of beer, with obvious gusto. Even when he was wearing his pontifical vestments and saying Mass, he projected a raw physical energy.
When he traveled, he kept up a brutal schedule that left his aides, as well as the journalists who traveled with him, exhausted. It seemed that he chafed against the very limits of time and space, so brimming was he with determination and drive. In 1979, for example, he took a nine-day trip to the United States and Ireland, and over the course of that time he delivered a staggering seventy-six speeches, which works out to roughly eight and a half speeches per day. Oral tradition in the press corps that followed the Pope has it that at one point, exhausted reporters tossed a message up to the front section of the papal plane asking for a day off, which produced a smile from John Paul II, as if to say, "I dare you to keep up."
This was a pope who understood the virtue of keeping in shape. Upon his election, he ordered a swimming pool installed at Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer residence outside Rome. When some in the Roman Curia, the papal bureaucracy, objected to the expense, he replied, "It's cheaper than holding another conclave." Coming fast on the death of his predecessor, Pope John Paul I, after just thirty-three days, his point was well taken.
John Paul II's astounding drive did not, of course, come just from his physical strength. He also had a deep, unwavering confidence in divine providence, that God would not send him any burden that was not accompanied by the strength to bear it, and that everything that happened to him was according to cosmic design. It was his firm belief, for example, that on May 13, 1981, the Virgin Mary altered the flight path of would-be assassin Mohammed Ali Agca's bullet in order to save his life and prolong his papacy. May 13 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, and on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt, John Paul II traveled to Fatima in Portugal in order to lay the bullet that doctors had removed from his body before the statue of the Virgin, thanking her for coming to his aide. The motto of his pontificate was Totus tuus, "totally yours," meaning that he had offered it to the Virgin Mary, and now he believed she had returned the favor.
It was in part that belief in providence that allowed John Paul II to bear the sufferings and ailments of his final years, not just with grim determination, but with serenity and good humor. Always the "great communicator," John Paul learned to use his growing physical limits-the Parkinson's disease, hip ailments, breathing problems, and arthritis-as another set of tools in his evangelizing toolbox, capitalizing on his infirmity as a "teaching moment" about the value and dignity of human life from the beginning to the end.
www.enotalone.com/article/5154.html
Opus Dei on John Allen's New Book
We're "Neither Angels nor Demons," Says Spokesman
ROME, DEC. 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An Opus Dei spokesman has expressed satisfaction with a new book on the personal prelature written by an American journalist.
Marc Carroggio, who oversees Opus Dei's relationship with international journalists in Rome, said he was satisfied with the book just published by John Allen …More
Opus Dei on John Allen's New Book
We're "Neither Angels nor Demons," Says Spokesman
ROME, DEC. 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An Opus Dei spokesman has expressed satisfaction with a new book on the personal prelature written by an American journalist.
Marc Carroggio, who oversees Opus Dei's relationship with international journalists in Rome, said he was satisfied with the book just published by John Allen. "Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church" has been published so far in English, Portuguese and Korean.
Carroggio told ZENIT that this is the first book that compares dispassionately the myths and reality surrounding "the Work," as it's called by Opus Dei members. "The author has understood well the nature of Opus Dei," Carroggio said.
Q: You must be happy since this book clears up many issues about Opus Dei.
Carroggio: I worked in the Rome press office while John Allen was writing this book. I can say that I am satisfied with it, especially with respect to its method.
Allen spent hundreds of hours gathering a great deal of information and views from all sorts of people. He places all this information in its proper context, and so gives the rationale for many ways of doing things.
He has listened to both sides and been respectful to both. Finally, he leaves the readers to reach their own conclusions. These are desirable qualities for a book of this kind. The issues it deals with do not easily lend themselves to dialogue or dispassionate discussion.
Hence, any attempt to clear away false stereotypes is positive. I do not like comparisons, but I should point out that the author of "The Da Vinci Code" never visited a center of Opus Dei and, as far as I know, never spoke to any members. The picture of Opus Dei presented in the novel is a figment of his imagination.
I think that John Allen's work can help readers of "The Da Vinci Code" who have no firsthand knowledge of Opus Dei to understand that we are neither angels nor demons. We are human beings with flesh and blood, who are sometimes wrong and sometimes right, who have faults but also want enthusiastically to follow an ideal.
Q: As he explains, the author had access to documents that are not available to the general public. He spent time in centers of numeraries, he interviewed dozens of members of the Work and he has absorbed what it means "to be in Opus Dei." In your view, what more would he need to understand Opus Dei better?
Carroggio: I think that the author has understood Opus Dei well: the nature of its message, the reasons for the things it encourages people to do, its members' mode of life, our ideals and also where we fall short.
This book is a journalist's report, not a dissertation in theology or a treatise on the history of the Church. Its approach is sociological, although it also acknowledges and respects the spiritual dimension of things.
Allen himself says that he does not intend to give an exhaustive account of Opus Dei but rather to compare myths with reality. As a consequence, he devotes a lot of space to matters that are actually fairly secondary in the life of Opus Dei but which have received a lot of attention from the media, especially in the United States.
So, for example, one could say a lot more about the spiritual experience of belonging to Opus Dei and about the inner motivation that leads persons to choose this path in their search for holiness in the middle of the world.
This would entail a larger treatment of each person's awareness of his or her own Christian vocation as well as persons' desire to follow Jesus Christ in their work, in their family and in their daily life. For an institution in the Church, the personal and existential dimensions are more important than organizational charts or questions of image.
Q: As part of his research, John Allen has also given the ex-members of Opus Dei a chance to speak. Do you think he has given too much space to their testimonies?
Carroggio: The book is a journalist's report, not a philosophical reflection on questions of principle. It is the result of a great number of interviews with people in a variety of different situations.
In a work like this, it is the author himself who has to determine the proper balance among his sources. I respect Allen's decision here, because it seems completely legitimate to me.
Personally I think that he explains well how these sorts of criticisms differ from those that arise, if I might put it this way, from the writers of fantasy. It easy enough to show that Opus Dei is not behind the sinister operations and conspiracies so often attributed to it.
It is different, however, when we are dealing with a person who has had a negative experience. You cannot simply deny a wound, or pain, or bad memories. This is not just an issue of lies and truth.
When we encounter a person's negative experience, we have to show our respect for it, we have to share that pain, even though at times we do not share that person's interpretation of the events.
The fact is that the faithful of Opus Dei live out their dedication to God with full freedom, and their dedication helps them to find happiness, at least the relative happiness that can be had in this world.
Hence the great majority of those who come to centers of Opus Dei have a lifelong appreciation for the Work. But this is not always the case. And so it does not seem wrong, but rather just the opposite, that a book like Allen's would include these cases, which I consider to be exceptions.
When Allen asked the prelate about this matter, Bishop [Javier] Echevarría said that we ask pardon with all our heart of those persons who do not feel that they were well treated. As you can understand, I have nothing to add to that.
Q: Would you like to see a "Part Two" of this book?
Carroggio: Each book is unique and therein, it seems to me, lies its strength. Although John Allen's book is not merely a book about controversies, the emphasis is certainly on the more-debated issues.
In my opinion, he treats these questions respectfully and offers factual information more than partisan or ideological explanations of them.
Moreover, he makes an effort to summarize some of the essential characteristics of Opus Dei, such as divine filiation, freedom, the sanctification of work and ordinary life, etc.
I would like a future book to develop these aspects, and precisely in journalistic form.
Such a book would be able to describe in a fresh way the experience of living one's Christian life in the middle of the world. It would talk about how faith and prayers provide such admirable resources for one's ordinary life, including the more difficult times like sickness, unemployment or the death of a loved one. There is a lot to talk about.
We're "Neither Angels nor Demons," Says Spokesman
ROME, DEC. 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An Opus Dei spokesman has expressed satisfaction with a new book on the personal prelature written by an American journalist.
Marc Carroggio, who oversees Opus Dei's relationship with international journalists in Rome, said he was satisfied with the book just published by John Allen. "Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church" has been published so far in English, Portuguese and Korean.
Carroggio told ZENIT that this is the first book that compares dispassionately the myths and reality surrounding "the Work," as it's called by Opus Dei members. "The author has understood well the nature of Opus Dei," Carroggio said.
Q: You must be happy since this book clears up many issues about Opus Dei.
Carroggio: I worked in the Rome press office while John Allen was writing this book. I can say that I am satisfied with it, especially with respect to its method.
Allen spent hundreds of hours gathering a great deal of information and views from all sorts of people. He places all this information in its proper context, and so gives the rationale for many ways of doing things.
He has listened to both sides and been respectful to both. Finally, he leaves the readers to reach their own conclusions. These are desirable qualities for a book of this kind. The issues it deals with do not easily lend themselves to dialogue or dispassionate discussion.
Hence, any attempt to clear away false stereotypes is positive. I do not like comparisons, but I should point out that the author of "The Da Vinci Code" never visited a center of Opus Dei and, as far as I know, never spoke to any members. The picture of Opus Dei presented in the novel is a figment of his imagination.
I think that John Allen's work can help readers of "The Da Vinci Code" who have no firsthand knowledge of Opus Dei to understand that we are neither angels nor demons. We are human beings with flesh and blood, who are sometimes wrong and sometimes right, who have faults but also want enthusiastically to follow an ideal.
Q: As he explains, the author had access to documents that are not available to the general public. He spent time in centers of numeraries, he interviewed dozens of members of the Work and he has absorbed what it means "to be in Opus Dei." In your view, what more would he need to understand Opus Dei better?
Carroggio: I think that the author has understood Opus Dei well: the nature of its message, the reasons for the things it encourages people to do, its members' mode of life, our ideals and also where we fall short.
This book is a journalist's report, not a dissertation in theology or a treatise on the history of the Church. Its approach is sociological, although it also acknowledges and respects the spiritual dimension of things.
Allen himself says that he does not intend to give an exhaustive account of Opus Dei but rather to compare myths with reality. As a consequence, he devotes a lot of space to matters that are actually fairly secondary in the life of Opus Dei but which have received a lot of attention from the media, especially in the United States.
So, for example, one could say a lot more about the spiritual experience of belonging to Opus Dei and about the inner motivation that leads persons to choose this path in their search for holiness in the middle of the world.
This would entail a larger treatment of each person's awareness of his or her own Christian vocation as well as persons' desire to follow Jesus Christ in their work, in their family and in their daily life. For an institution in the Church, the personal and existential dimensions are more important than organizational charts or questions of image.
Q: As part of his research, John Allen has also given the ex-members of Opus Dei a chance to speak. Do you think he has given too much space to their testimonies?
Carroggio: The book is a journalist's report, not a philosophical reflection on questions of principle. It is the result of a great number of interviews with people in a variety of different situations.
In a work like this, it is the author himself who has to determine the proper balance among his sources. I respect Allen's decision here, because it seems completely legitimate to me.
Personally I think that he explains well how these sorts of criticisms differ from those that arise, if I might put it this way, from the writers of fantasy. It easy enough to show that Opus Dei is not behind the sinister operations and conspiracies so often attributed to it.
It is different, however, when we are dealing with a person who has had a negative experience. You cannot simply deny a wound, or pain, or bad memories. This is not just an issue of lies and truth.
When we encounter a person's negative experience, we have to show our respect for it, we have to share that pain, even though at times we do not share that person's interpretation of the events.
The fact is that the faithful of Opus Dei live out their dedication to God with full freedom, and their dedication helps them to find happiness, at least the relative happiness that can be had in this world.
Hence the great majority of those who come to centers of Opus Dei have a lifelong appreciation for the Work. But this is not always the case. And so it does not seem wrong, but rather just the opposite, that a book like Allen's would include these cases, which I consider to be exceptions.
When Allen asked the prelate about this matter, Bishop [Javier] Echevarría said that we ask pardon with all our heart of those persons who do not feel that they were well treated. As you can understand, I have nothing to add to that.
Q: Would you like to see a "Part Two" of this book?
Carroggio: Each book is unique and therein, it seems to me, lies its strength. Although John Allen's book is not merely a book about controversies, the emphasis is certainly on the more-debated issues.
In my opinion, he treats these questions respectfully and offers factual information more than partisan or ideological explanations of them.
Moreover, he makes an effort to summarize some of the essential characteristics of Opus Dei, such as divine filiation, freedom, the sanctification of work and ordinary life, etc.
I would like a future book to develop these aspects, and precisely in journalistic form.
Such a book would be able to describe in a fresh way the experience of living one's Christian life in the middle of the world. It would talk about how faith and prayers provide such admirable resources for one's ordinary life, including the more difficult times like sickness, unemployment or the death of a loved one. There is a lot to talk about.
One more comment from Irapuato
Yes, I agree--but I would rather have him covering the Beatification of John Paul II on CNN, than some other reporters that know NOTHING about the Catholic Faith--as happened at His Holiness' Funeral Mass. Then, 2 books he wrote and I liked very much where those on the Opus Dei and The Rise of Benedict XVI.
Allen is a very intelligent reporter. But I have two bones to pick with him. He lends his credibility to the single most anti catholic website on the internet. The National Catholic Reporter. Secondly, he coined the phrase "Taliban Catholicism" for traditionalists. As if even the worst of Catholic Traditionalists somehow compare to islamic terrorists who murder people. For someone who is supposed …More
Allen is a very intelligent reporter. But I have two bones to pick with him. He lends his credibility to the single most anti catholic website on the internet. The National Catholic Reporter. Secondly, he coined the phrase "Taliban Catholicism" for traditionalists. As if even the worst of Catholic Traditionalists somehow compare to islamic terrorists who murder people. For someone who is supposed to be objective, he failed miserably in that regard. It betrayed his storied veil for objectivity with a deep seated bias.
John L. Allen, Jr. (born 1965) is an American journalist based in Rome who specializes in news about the Catholic Church. He is senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and vaticanologist of CNN and NPR. Allen is also the author of several books about the Catholic Church. He has written two biographies of Pope Benedict XVI, the first one published in 2000 when he was still a cardinal …More
John L. Allen, Jr. (born 1965) is an American journalist based in Rome who specializes in news about the Catholic Church. He is senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and vaticanologist of CNN and NPR. Allen is also the author of several books about the Catholic Church. He has written two biographies of Pope Benedict XVI, the first one published in 2000 when he was still a cardinal and the first biography of him in English.
Biography
Allen grew up in Kansas. Both his grade school and his high school (Thomas More Prep-Marian) were located in Hays, Kansas and run by the Capuchin Franciscans. Allen graduated from high school in 1983.[1] 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. For several years, 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 is now the Vatican analyst for CNN and NPR, and delivers lectures discussing Vatican issues and his latest works. Allen is one of the few Catholic journalists respected by Catholics of both "liberal" and "conservative" persuasions.[2]
Allen and his wife Shannon live in Denver, Colorado.
[edit] Publications
Perhaps Allen's best-known work is his weekly column about world Catholicism called "All Things Catholic". Prior to mid-2006, it was known as "The Word from Rome". This column appears in the print and online versions of the National Catholic Reporter, a publication Allen has worked for since 1997.
In addition to this column and occasional other pieces for NCR, Allen's journalistic work has been published in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Tablet, Jesus, Second Opinion, The Nation, the Miami Herald, Die Furche, and the Irish Examiner.
Allen is the author of several books, including a book about Opus Dei and two about Pope Benedict XVI. One of them was written when the Pope was still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the other after his election to the papacy. They were all published by Doubleday Random House.
[edit] Writings on the Vatican
In 2000, Allen published a biography titled Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith. Several reviewers criticized this book for being biased as it often took an anti-Ratzinger stance. Joseph Komonchak, for example, called his writing "Manichaean journalism."[3] After some examination, Allen concluded that these criticisms were valid.[4] As a result, in his next biography of the same man, 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 says, "before I arrived in Rome and before I really knew a lot about the universal church." The book "gives prominent voice to criticisms of Ratzinger; it does not give equally prominent voice to how he himself would see some of these issues."[5]
John L. Allen, Jr. with Pope Benedict XVI
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." According to the London Tablet, Allen is "the most authoritative Vatican writer in the English language."[citation needed]
Allen was critical of how the Vatican communicated the decision to lift the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X.[6]
[edit] Work on Opus Dei
Allen stated that one of his reasons for writing Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church (2005) 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 rather than rancor. Allen has been called by John Romanowsky of Godspy as having an objectivity that is "maddening".[citation needed]
[edit] References
^ "Capuchins elect brother to Rome post". National Catholic Reporter. 2006-09-08. www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word090806.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ e.g., Stern, Amy (2008-04-01). "The Pope Comes to America". The Pew Forum on Religion & Public life. www.pewforum.org/events. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "... now you know why I was not exaggerating some years ago when I said that John Allen is the best English-language Vatican reporter in history." – George Weigel
^ Joseph Komonchak, book review, in Commonweal, 2000.
^ Allen, John (2004-06-25). "Catholic Common Ground Lecture". National Catholic Reporter. www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/allen_common.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ "What to Expect from Benedict XVI". Beliefnet. 2005-04. www.beliefnet.com/…/What-To-Expect-…. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
^ "The Lefebvrite case: What was the Vatican thinking?". National Catholic Reporter. 2009-01-30. ncrcafe.org/node/2382. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
[edit] Bibliography
Books by John Allen:
Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith. NY: Continuum, 2000. ISBN 0-8264-1265-3.
Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election. New York: Doubleday/Image, 2002, revised 2004. ISBN 0-385-50453-5.
All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks. (Hardcover) New York: Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 0-385-50966-9. (Trade Paperback) New York: Doubleday/Image October 2006. ISBN 0-385-50967-7.
Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger. NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0-8264-1786-8. This is a reprint of Allen's 2000 book Cardinal Ratzinger, reprinted under a new title without Allen's permission.
The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church. (Hardcover) NY: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51320-8. (Trade Paperback) New York: Doubleday/Image October 2006. ISBN 0-385-51321-6.
Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church. NY: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51449-2.
The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. NY: Doubleday, 2009. ISBN 0-385-52038-7.
All Things Catholic – John Allen's column in the National Catholic Reporter
The Scoop on the Pope – article about Allen by Kenneth Woodward
Interview with Allen in which he discusses his Opus Dei book and his views on "liberal/conservative" issues
John L. Allen in Lecturalia (Spanish)
[edit] External links
John L. Allen Jr.'s blog
Works by or about John L. Allen, Jr. in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Allen,_Jr.
Biography
Allen grew up in Kansas. Both his grade school and his high school (Thomas More Prep-Marian) were located in Hays, Kansas and run by the Capuchin Franciscans. Allen graduated from high school in 1983.[1] 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. For several years, 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 is now the Vatican analyst for CNN and NPR, and delivers lectures discussing Vatican issues and his latest works. Allen is one of the few Catholic journalists respected by Catholics of both "liberal" and "conservative" persuasions.[2]
Allen and his wife Shannon live in Denver, Colorado.
[edit] Publications
Perhaps Allen's best-known work is his weekly column about world Catholicism called "All Things Catholic". Prior to mid-2006, it was known as "The Word from Rome". This column appears in the print and online versions of the National Catholic Reporter, a publication Allen has worked for since 1997.
In addition to this column and occasional other pieces for NCR, Allen's journalistic work has been published in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Tablet, Jesus, Second Opinion, The Nation, the Miami Herald, Die Furche, and the Irish Examiner.
Allen is the author of several books, including a book about Opus Dei and two about Pope Benedict XVI. One of them was written when the Pope was still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the other after his election to the papacy. They were all published by Doubleday Random House.
[edit] Writings on the Vatican
In 2000, Allen published a biography titled Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith. Several reviewers criticized this book for being biased as it often took an anti-Ratzinger stance. Joseph Komonchak, for example, called his writing "Manichaean journalism."[3] After some examination, Allen concluded that these criticisms were valid.[4] As a result, in his next biography of the same man, 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 says, "before I arrived in Rome and before I really knew a lot about the universal church." The book "gives prominent voice to criticisms of Ratzinger; it does not give equally prominent voice to how he himself would see some of these issues."[5]
John L. Allen, Jr. with Pope Benedict XVI
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." According to the London Tablet, Allen is "the most authoritative Vatican writer in the English language."[citation needed]
Allen was critical of how the Vatican communicated the decision to lift the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X.[6]
[edit] Work on Opus Dei
Allen stated that one of his reasons for writing Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church (2005) 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 rather than rancor. Allen has been called by John Romanowsky of Godspy as having an objectivity that is "maddening".[citation needed]
[edit] References
^ "Capuchins elect brother to Rome post". National Catholic Reporter. 2006-09-08. www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word090806.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ e.g., Stern, Amy (2008-04-01). "The Pope Comes to America". The Pew Forum on Religion & Public life. www.pewforum.org/events. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "... now you know why I was not exaggerating some years ago when I said that John Allen is the best English-language Vatican reporter in history." – George Weigel
^ Joseph Komonchak, book review, in Commonweal, 2000.
^ Allen, John (2004-06-25). "Catholic Common Ground Lecture". National Catholic Reporter. www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/allen_common.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ "What to Expect from Benedict XVI". Beliefnet. 2005-04. www.beliefnet.com/…/What-To-Expect-…. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
^ "The Lefebvrite case: What was the Vatican thinking?". National Catholic Reporter. 2009-01-30. ncrcafe.org/node/2382. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
[edit] Bibliography
Books by John Allen:
Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith. NY: Continuum, 2000. ISBN 0-8264-1265-3.
Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election. New York: Doubleday/Image, 2002, revised 2004. ISBN 0-385-50453-5.
All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks. (Hardcover) New York: Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 0-385-50966-9. (Trade Paperback) New York: Doubleday/Image October 2006. ISBN 0-385-50967-7.
Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger. NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0-8264-1786-8. This is a reprint of Allen's 2000 book Cardinal Ratzinger, reprinted under a new title without Allen's permission.
The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church. (Hardcover) NY: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51320-8. (Trade Paperback) New York: Doubleday/Image October 2006. ISBN 0-385-51321-6.
Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church. NY: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51449-2.
The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. NY: Doubleday, 2009. ISBN 0-385-52038-7.
All Things Catholic – John Allen's column in the National Catholic Reporter
The Scoop on the Pope – article about Allen by Kenneth Woodward
Interview with Allen in which he discusses his Opus Dei book and his views on "liberal/conservative" issues
John L. Allen in Lecturalia (Spanish)
[edit] External links
John L. Allen Jr.'s blog
Works by or about John L. Allen, Jr. in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Allen,_Jr.