Allen, John L. 1965–

(John L. Allen, Jr.)

PERSONAL: Born 1965; married Shannon Allen. Education: Fort Hays State University, graduated 1989; University of Kansas, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Rome, Italy. Office—National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company, 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111-1203. E-mail—jallen@natcath.org.

CAREER: Journalist and writer. Formerly a high school teacher. National Catholic Reporter, opinion editor, 1997–2000, Rome correspondent, 2000–, author of "The Word from Rome" (weekly online column), 2001–. Contributor to the FOX News Channel; Vatican analyst for the Cable News Network (CNN), National Public Radio (NPR), and various European television networks.

WRITINGS:

Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, Continuum (New York, NY), 2000, published as Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger, 2005, published as Benedict XVI: Labourer in the Vineyard, Continuum (London, England), 2005.

Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election, Image (New York, NY), 2002.

All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2004.

Opus Dei: The First Objective Look behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2005.

The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to the New York Times, Tablet, Jesus, Second Opinion, Nation, Miami Herald, Furche, and Irish Examiner.

SIDELIGHTS: John L. Allen has earned a reputation as an expert on the behind-the-scenes political machinations within the Roman Catholic Church. This reputation is primarily built upon his print and online reporting for the National Catholic Reporter, a publication known for its liberal dissent to certain Church teachings, but Allen is also the author of numerous well-received books about the Catholic Church and the men who run it.

Allen's first book, Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, was published in 2000, the same year that Allen moved to Rome to cover the Vatican beat for the National Catholic Reporter. (After Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, the book was republished as Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger.) Allen presents "a cohesive, articulate biographical narrative," John-Leonard Berg wrote in Library Journal, and, as John P. Burgess noted in the Christian Century, "while Allen's style is journalistic, he is sensitive to theological questions."

Allen returned to writing about Ratzinger in 2005, after the cardinal was elected pope. He wrote The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church in under two weeks, beginning April 26, 2005 (exactly a week after Benedict XVI was elected pope) and finishing on May 7. Allen accomplished this feat by sequestering himself in a hotel in Paris and writing for sixteen hours a day, as he told Publishers Weekly interviewer Joe Tirella. The location was his wife's choice: "I told my wife, 'We can go anyplace in the world you want, because I'm not leaving the hotel room,'" he explained to Tirella. "Using his Vatican connections"—which included eight of the cardinals who were part of the voting—"Mr. Allen pieces together a credible scenario of the conclave," according to Chester Gillis in the National Catholic Reporter.

The Rise of Benedict XVI was not Allen's first book about the process of electing a new pope. In his 2002 title, Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election, Allen explains all aspects of naming a replacement for the then-aging Pope John Paul II, from the technicalities of conducting a conclave (the name for the process by which a new pope is elected) to the political factions within the College of Cardinals. Allen also lists and describes the top twenty contenders for the job and, helpfully for non-Catholics, explains exactly what the pope's job description entails. "Conclave fulfills its promise to offer us all we need to know about the next conclave," wrote Conscience reviewer Thomas Arens. The book is "timely, informative, and engaging," Berg similarly commented in another Library Journal review, and it provides a "popular and understandable" explanation of its topic. A Publishers Weekly critic described the book as "engagingly written" as well, and commended Allen for being "admirably objective" in his descriptions of the contenders for the job of pope.

Allen is also the author of Opus Dei: The First Objective Look behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church. Opus Dei (the name means "Work of God") is a conservative, secretive group within the Catholic Church that is rumored to include many powerful figures, including American politicians. Although Opus Dei has found itself at the center of several conspiracy theories (most famously the one spelled out in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code), Allen finds the group to be much less dangerous. However, as John Jay Hughes noted in the National Catholic Reporter, "The book is no whitewash. Mr. Allen cites extensively from the Work's critics, including former members deeply hurt by Opus Dei." Unlike most authors who attempt to investigate Opus Dei, Allen was given near-complete access to both the group's members and to its archives, including financial records. While writing the book he conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with both current and former members of the organization and spent five days living in an Opus Dei house in Barcelona, Spain. The result is "balanced, even reporting" that is "most informative," concluded a Publishers Weekly critic.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, October 11, 2004, John Jay Hughes, review of All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks, p. 37.

Booklist, October 15, 2000, Steven Schroeder, review of Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, p. 392; June 1, 2005, Margaret Flanagan, review of Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election, p. 1647; October 1, 2005, Margaret Flanagan, review of Opus Dei: An Objective Look behind the Myths and Realities of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church, p. 22.

Bookseller, May 13, 2005, "Rush Is on for Ratzinger," p. 12.

Catholic Insight, November, 2004, review of All the Pope's Men, p. 42.

Christian Century, May 9, 2001, John P. Burgess, review of Cardinal Ratzinger, p. 26.

Commonweal, November 3, 2000, Joseph A. Komonchak, "Dubious Demonizing," p. 31; December 3, 2004, Lawrence S. Cunningham, review of All the Pope's Men, p. 33.

Conscience, winter, 2002, Thomas Arens, review of Conclave, p. 46.

First Things, February, 2001, review of Cardinal Ratzinger, p. 55.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2002, review of Conclave, p. 299; August 15, 2005, review of Opus Dei, p. 889.

Library Journal, November 1, 2000, Anna M. Donnelly, review of Cardinal Ratzinger, p. 87; May 1, 2002, John-Leonard Berg, review of Conclave, p. 105; July 1, 2005, John-Leonard Berg, review of Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger, p. 85.

National Catholic Reporter, July 28, 2000, Tom Roberts, "John Goes to Rome; Teresa Moves Up," p. 2; November 3, 2000, Zachary Hayes, review of Cardinal Ratzinger, p. 31; April 5, 2002, Chester Gillis, review of Conclave, p. 19; December 26, 2003, "For the Inside Story," p. 2; July 16, 2004, "Catholics Must Create Dialogue Spaces on Key Issues, Says Reporter," p. 6; August 12, 2005, Chester Gillis, "New Pope, New Books," p. 18; October 21, 2005, John Jay Hughes, "The Facts and Fiction about Opus Dei: John Allen Investigates Secretive Organization Some Call a Cult," p. 20.

National Review, September 30, 2002, Michael Potemra, review of Conclave, p. 52.

Newsweek, December 22, 2003, Kenneth L. Woodward, "The Scoop on the Pope: This High-School Teacher Turned Journalist Speaks Italian and Dines with Cardinals. He's Got the Vatican Covered," p. 48.

Newsweek International, January 19, 2004, Kenneth L. Woodward and Robert Blair Kaiser, "An All-Seeing Outsider," p. 54.

Publishers Weekly, April 29, 2002, review of Conclave, p. 60; May 31, 2004, review of All the Pope's Men, p. 70; June 13, 2005, Joe Tirella, interview with Allen, p. 50, review of The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church, p. 53; July 11, 2005, review of Opus Dei, p. 84.

Washington Monthly, October-November, 2005, Paul Baumann, "Let There Be Light," p. 56.