John Allen spent several years, until June 2006, as the Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter in the United States.
He said during his time in Rome: "I am what the Italians call a 'Vaticanista', meaning that it is my full-time work to track the vicissitudes in this 108-acre island of ecclesiastical life in the heart of modern urban Rome called 'the Vatican'.
Almost every day I'm in Rome takes me in and out of some office of the Roman Curia. I'm in constant phone and e-mail contact with officials of the Curia, trying to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on. My life is composed of a seemingly infinite series of congresses, symposia, plenary assemblies, book presentations, press conferences, lunches and dinners and embassy parties."
Mr Allen is a prolific writer. Besides weekly filings for his newspaper, he writes his weekly column, "All Things Catholic" - previously "The Word from Rome" - and has written several books.
Among his recent books are All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Works (2004) and The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church (2005) both published by Doubleday.