Overview
- The beatification Mass was held Thursday in St. Louis with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presiding and a crowd expected to exceed 50,000.
- The Vatican’s approved miracle involved James Fulton Engstrom, an infant born in 2010 who showed no signs of life for about 61 minutes before recovering, and his family is scheduled to take part in the ceremony.
- Pope Leo XIV praised Sheen’s work using radio and television to spread the faith and the White House issued a presidential message marking Sheen as the first American-born bishop to be beatified.
- The ceremony follows a 2019 postponement that prompted a Vatican review of Sheen’s handling of accused priests during his time as bishop of Rochester, a probe that found no evidence of wrongdoing and was cleared by Rome in February 2026.
- Beatification declares Sheen “Blessed” and allows public veneration while canonization would require a second authenticated miracle, a step that would determine whether he becomes a full Catholic saint.