The announcement came less than two years after the Catholic site started operation. The Globe cited financial reasons for the decision.

In a note to readers, Crux editor Teresa Hanafin said the Globe decided to focus its efforts "on other initiatives within the company."

She said Vatican analyst and associate Crux editor John L. Allen Jr. will continue the site with Vatican correspondent Inés San Martín.

"I can't tell you how proud we all are of what we have accomplished in the past 19 months. We vowed to make Crux a place where all voices could be heard, and we stuck to that pledge," Hanafin wrote.

She said the quality of the site "was reflected in the strong traffic and journalism awards we received."

"But the economics of the journalism business are difficult today," she added.

Globe editor Brian McGrory, in a letter to media critic Dan Kennedy, described the decision as "difficult ... because we're beyond proud of the journalism and the journalists who have produced it."

"The problem is the business. We simply haven't been able to develop the financial model of big-ticket, Catholic-based advertisers that was envisioned when we launched Crux back in September 2014," he added.

When it was launched, Crux aspired to cover "all things Catholic," with content to appeal to active Catholics, "casual" Catholics who may not be regular Mass attendees and general readers interested in Pope Francis, religion and spirituality.

Sources

The Boston Globe
NiemanLab
Catholic News Agency
National Catholic Register
Crux
Image: Columbia Journalism Review

The story included a quote by Cardinal Napier seemingly challenging the right of Pope Francis to appoint members of a commission to draft the synod on the family's final document.

But after Cardinal Napier protested, examination of a recording of an interview he gave revealed a journalist was speaking while the cardinal was saying a key word.

Cardinal Napier was stressing he was not challenging the Pope's right to appoint members.

The quote was removed from the story after the cardinal's protest.

While Allen did not write the article, he oversaw its publication and had listened to the interview before the story went public.

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