Word (365 Mac) Crashes just after opeing

I am running MS Office on my Macbook Pro - on a recent update (Catalina 10.15.6), Word crashes when I open it - not right away, but when I try to open or start a new file.  It only started when I did the Apple update - no other Office function has a problem.  I start word... when I select start a new file, it begins to open, then crashes.  If I open a recent or existing file, it crashes when it just begins to display.  I reinstalled and follow a number of procedures to try and re-establish the program (as I noted on other posts) to no avail... it just doesn't want to work.  It tried to send a message through the "help" system but received no replay... and am stuck.  Any ideas? (Thank you in advance...)