Fulton Sheen Beatified Before 50,000 Catholics

About 50,000 Catholics attended Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's beatification on September 24, 2026, at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. Cardinal Tagle read the Latin decree and gave the homily; Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria read the English proclamation as an icon of Blessed Sheen was unveiled, with a simultaneous unveiling at his Peoria tomb via livestream. James Fulton Engstrom, healed in September 2010 after 61 minutes without a heartbeat, carried Sheen's mandible relic. Father Richard D. Breton Jr. estimated about 1,300 priests, 299 deacons, 800 seminarians and 92 bishops present and described applause, bells and tears at the decree. Deacon Joshua Dalcher described the clergy procession with choir singing. Five Australian priests attended; Fr Roberto Keryakos said Sheen's writings made the Holy Hour his daily priority. Bishop Robert Barron, in a September 23 vigil homily, said Sheen opened evangelization through electronic media and treated holiness as friendship with Christ, quoting Sheen's seminary conviction of the certitude of the faith. Sheen's Life Is Worth Living reached 30 million viewers weekly at its height; he served as National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966. Contested: no factual disputes found.