Andrea Tornielli, the editorial director of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, hailed the late John Allen as “the journalist who explained the Vatican with expertise and wit.”
“In every article, John combined rigor and careful attention to sources with interpretive frameworks, analysis, and context, and he insisted on using quotations “on the record,” always accompanied by full names.” said Tornielli. “Another defining feature of his work was that he never took anything for granted and therefore never wrote only for insiders: he knew how to speak to his audience—not composed solely of Catholics, nor only of believers.”