RIP John Allen Jr
Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2026 4:09 pm
We are sad to report that Crux's Editor-in-Chief, John L. Allen Jr., died this afternoon, just before 2pm in Rome, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 61 years old, and is survived by his widow, Elise Ann Allen, whom you all know as Crux's Senior Vatican Correspondent.
"Allen was a force of nature," we editors noted in Crux's official announcement of his passing, not only – nor even primarily – as a journalist, though he was most certainly model of journalistic integrity and excellence for us.
John Allen was our friend.
He loved Crux readers, too, as Elise Ann Allen poignantly noted in her own moving tribute to her late husband: "You are the reason we do what we do."
"During this time," she wrote, "you have accompanied John and myself with love and concern, writing frequently to ask about his health, sending notes to assure us of prayers, and offering positive reinforcement online." "This made us both feel loved and accompanied," she wrote, "and I want you to know how very much it meant to John."
"Allen was a force of nature," we editors noted in Crux's official announcement of his passing, not only – nor even primarily – as a journalist, though he was most certainly model of journalistic integrity and excellence for us.
John Allen was our friend.
He loved Crux readers, too, as Elise Ann Allen poignantly noted in her own moving tribute to her late husband: "You are the reason we do what we do."
"During this time," she wrote, "you have accompanied John and myself with love and concern, writing frequently to ask about his health, sending notes to assure us of prayers, and offering positive reinforcement online." "This made us both feel loved and accompanied," she wrote, "and I want you to know how very much it meant to John."
