I could listen to John Allen all day. He's got an easy style.

I became enamored with him for the first time during CNN's coverage of the papal death and funeral and, er, election of, er, Benedict a year ago. He knows his stuff ... and his ready knowledge of "all things Catholic" underscored how appallingly uninformed CNN's evening lineup is about Catholicism in general and the papacy in particular. Not a cultural Catholic among them, apparently. Zahn, Cooper, King and Brown were all visibly impressed with Allen who managed to remain coherent across the days of media coverage with minimal sleep.

I never listen to NPR - I can explain why another time but in a nutshell: even though I don't mind the liberal side of matters, I can't stomach the elitism. John Allen doesn't give off that elitist stench, even though he may be qualified, so ... I could listen to him all day.

I never noticed Allen's byline when I was a National Catholic Reporter reader a decade ago 'though it was probably there. And as I said, I'm not an NPR listener, 'though Allen has regular appearances as their Vatican correspondent.

In this interview with Brian Lehrer, Allen comes across as objective, in my opinion, but my husband thinks that he sounds very pro-Catholic. My husband is a regular NPR listener and knows that Brian Lehrer is personally very hostile towards religion. My husband was impressed that Allen held his own in the interview and got his message across.