Archbishop Fulton Sheen, beloved missionary shepherd, beatified in St. Louis
September 25, 2026
Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), whose radio and television apostolate and writings earned him the respect and affection of generations of American Catholics, was beatified in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 24.
More than 50,000 people, including 89 bishops and 1,000 priests, attended the Mass of beatification, which took place in The Dome at America’s Center.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, preached that “among many of his virtues and ministries, two stand out: his being an evangelizer or proclaimer of the Gospel, and his being a missionary shepherd.”
Quoting Blessed Sheen, Cardinal Tagle said that “as only a wounded Christ could convert a doubting Thomas, so only a Church wounded by poverty can convert a doubting world.”
Sheen “took up his own challenge by giving to the poor whatever remunerations he received from his various commitments, and by animating missionary commitment ... of the Church in the United States towards the poor churches of the world,” Cardinal Tagle said.
Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, in 1919, Sheen taught at the Catholic University of America (1927-1950) and served as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (1950-1966). His media apostolates included the weekly radio show The Catholic Hour (1930-1950) and the television program Life Is Worth Living (1952-1957).
Venerable Pius XII appointed Sheen auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951; Pope St. Paul VI named him bishop of Rochester, New York, in 1966. Upon Sheen’s retirement in 1969, Pope Paul named him a titular archbishop.
Sheen was declared venerable in 2012. Sheen’s beatification, originally scheduled for December 2019, was postponed by the Holy See, at the request of a few American bishops, amid concern about the possibility that he might be linked to the assignment of abusive priests during his brief tenure as bishop. In March, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria announced the new beatification date.
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Further information:
- LIVE UPDATES: Beatification of Fulton Sheen (EWTN News)
- The Beatification of Fulton Sheen (OSV News)
- Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation
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