After a six-year pause, the Vatican has cleared the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the famed U.S. televangelist from Illinois.
Newsroom (10/02/2026 Gaudium Press ) The Vatican has once again given approval for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the celebrated American radio and television preacher, marking a new step in his long and often interrupted path toward sainthood. The Diocese of Peoria, Ill., announced Monday that the Holy See has cleared the way for Sheen’s beatification after a six-year delay prompted by concerns over his handling of clergy misconduct cases during his tenure as bishop of Rochester, N.Y.
The announcement revives a process long mired in legal disputes and ecclesiastical hesitation. “The Holy See has informed me that the cause for the Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen can proceed to beatification,” Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka said in a written and recorded statement shared on the diocesan and Sheen Foundation websites. He confirmed that Vatican officials at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints are now working with Peoria to finalize details of the ceremony. A date for the beatification—expected to take place in Sheen’s hometown—has not yet been set.
Sheen’s remarkable career bridged faith and media at a time when both were transforming American culture. The Illinois-born priest became one of the 20th century’s most visible Catholic figures through his Emmy-winning television series Life Is Worth Living, which aired in the 1950s to millions of viewers. Often dubbed a pioneer of televangelism, Sheen was featured on the cover of Time magazine and was described by Catholic University of America, where he taught, as “one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century.”
Pope Francis had originally approved a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession on July 6, 2019, paving the way for his beatification to occur later that year, on December 21, in Peoria. But less than three weeks before the scheduled date, the Vatican indefinitely postponed the ceremony after the Diocese of Rochester requested additional scrutiny into Sheen’s record, particularly his handling of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
Those concerns centered on two cases from his time as bishop of Rochester between 1966 and 1969. Sheen himself was never accused of abuse. In 2019, Monsignor James Kruse, Peoria’s canon law official, said an investigation cleared Sheen of wrongdoing and later accused the Rochester diocese of “sabotaging” the cause in a now-removed essay posted on the official beatification website. Bishop Tylka’s statement on Monday made no reference to these earlier controversies.
The investigation was only the latest setback in a vexing journey toward Sheen’s sainthood. Before the 2019 delay, years of courtroom disputes stalled the process as Sheen’s relatives in Peoria fought the Archdiocese of New York over his final resting place. Born in El Paso, Illinois, in 1895, Sheen died in 1979 and was initially buried under the altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Following a protracted legal battle, his niece won the right to have his remains moved to Peoria, enabling progress in the canonization cause.
Among those welcoming the Vatican’s latest announcement was Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States—the Vatican’s main missionary arm, which Sheen led for 16 years. Sheen left much of his estate, including his writings and audio archives, to the organization that supports Catholic missions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. “It is profoundly moving that, in God’s providence, the first U.S.–born pope is able to advance the cause of his fellow Illinois native, the most iconic evangelizer ever produced by the American Church,” Landry said in a statement.
With the Vatican’s renewed approval, Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification is poised once again to take place on American soil, under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV—a fellow son of Illinois. For the faithful who revered Sheen’s charismatic voice and moral vision, the long-awaited ceremony will mark not only a milestone in his cause for sainthood but also a symbolic reconciliation between the church’s modern challenges and one of its most enduring communicators.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux Now
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