The Vatican plans to announce Fulton Sheen’s beatification date after years of delays linked to abuse probes and the Rochester Diocese bankruptcy.
Newsroom (13/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) The Holy See is expected to announce in the coming weeks the date for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the pioneering American prelate who revolutionized Catholic evangelization through radio and television. The decision marks a long-awaited revival of a cause that was unexpectedly suspended in 2019—just days before its planned celebration.
According to The Pillar, Sheen’s beatification has been quietly rescheduled for September 2026, following the resolution of legal and financial obstacles that had shadowed the process in the Diocese of Rochester, and amid the conclusion of civil investigations into clerical abuse in New York State.
A Process Interrupted in 2019
Sheen’s beatification was originally slated for December 21, 2019, after Pope Francis formally approved a miracle attributed to his intercession earlier that year. Yet, concerns raised by Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester led the Vatican to postpone the ceremony. Matano feared that allegations related to Sheen’s brief episcopate from 1966 to 1969 might surface amid the heightened scrutiny of clergy abuse cases in the United States.
The controversy centered largely on the case of Father Gerard Guli, accused of sexual misconduct involving adults during the 1960s. Monsignor James Kruse, then overseeing canonical matters in the Diocese of Peoria, clarified in 2019 that Sheen had never assigned Guli to ministry. It was, in fact, Sheen’s successor who later installed the priest in parish work, where he reoffended.
In subsequent years, The Pillar confirmed that Fulton Sheen himself faced no accusations under New York’s Child Victims Act, nor has he been implicated in any ongoing state investigations, which have largely gone dormant since 2018.
Rochester’s Bankruptcy: The Final Obstacle
The Diocese of Rochester’s protracted bankruptcy proceedings ultimately became the final barrier to moving the cause forward. The six-year legal ordeal ended in September 2025, when a $250 million compensation agreement for abuse victims was approved. That settlement, sources close to the cause say, cleared the final path for the Vatican to resume consideration of Sheen’s beatification.
Monsignor Louis Tylka, Bishop of Peoria—the diocese that initiated Sheen’s canonization cause in 2002—welcomed the breakthrough. He expressed hope that Pope Leo XIV, elected in 2025, would “move forward and leave behind the pause” that had cast uncertainty over one of America’s most beloved Catholic figures.
The Legacy of Fulton J. Sheen
Archbishop Sheen remains one of the most influential Catholic communicators of the 20th century. Ordained a priest in Peoria in 1919, he joined the faculty of The Catholic University of America, where his intellectual vigor and charisma propelled him to national prominence.
He became a household name through The Catholic Hour radio program and later through acclaimed television shows such as Life is Worth Living and The Fulton Sheen Program, which earned him two Emmy Awards. His articulate defense of faith and his empathetic engagement with a broad American audience made him a cultural icon beyond the Church.
Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of New York in 1951 and later Bishop of Rochester in 1966, Sheen was subsequently elevated to titular archbishop by Pope Paul VI before his death in 1979. His earthly journey did not end quietly, as decades of legal battles over his burial site ensued. His remains, after years of dispute, were ultimately moved from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to his home diocese of Peoria.
The miracle that secured his beatification involved the remarkable recovery of a stillborn child in 2010, following prayers of intercession to Sheen by the infant’s parents—an event Church investigators deemed medically inexplicable.
A Moment Long in Waiting
With the administrative and canonical hurdles now apparently cleared, Vatican sources suggest that the formal announcement of Sheen’s beatification date is imminent. The Holy See is likely to finalize the decision before the expected retirement of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, who turns 80 later this month.
For Catholics across America—and especially for the faithful in Peoria—the renewed momentum represents not only a vindication of Sheen’s personal integrity but also a celebration of his enduring message: that faith and intellect, when united, can illuminate even the darkest corners of modern life.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from The Pillar
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