Sheen becomes blessed

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was beatified in St. Louis on Thursday, celebrated as a tireless Gospel preacher who used modern media and missionary zeal to reach millions.

Pope Leo sends his greetings

Pope Leo XIV, himself from Illinois, rejoiced at the beatification of his fellow countryman and brother bishop, with Cardinal Tagle conveying the papal greetings at the Mass.

What makes an evangelizer blessed?

Cardinal Tagle posed a crucial question: Is blessedness measured by audience size, radio reach, or viewer numbers? The answer, he suggested, lies elsewhere entirely.

Communion with Christ comes first

The heart of Sheen's missionary vocation was communion with Christ and communion with people, especially the poor and vulnerable, not his celebrity as a communicator.

The Risen Lord chooses and sends

Christian mission is not something an evangelizer invents or pursues by personal preference. The Risen Lord chooses and sends his friends, making the missionary first and foremost one who has been called.

Sheen saw himself as a porter

When asked about conversions, Sheen said he never counted them, fearing he'd think they belonged to him. He called himself simply a porter, sometimes able to lead people to God's open door.

“he had never counted them, lest he be tempted to think they belonged to him”

I never tire of telling it

When asked why he became a priest, Sheen replied: I was called to tell this story. I never tire of telling it or improving my telling of it. I love my calling.

“I was called to tell this story. I never tire of telling it.”

Preach Christ, not yourself

For decades Sheen found new ways to tell the Gospel story through radio, television, and international missionary work. But his significance lay not in his celebrity, but in what he proclaimed: Jesus Christ as Lord.

From abstract world to real people

The Gospel sends disciples not to an abstract world, but to human beings whose lives, wounds, and dignity must be encountered. Sheen repeatedly expressed concern for those most easily forgotten: the poor.

Only a Church wounded by poverty

At Vatican II's Third Session in 1964, Sheen urged the Council to affirm poverty's importance, noting the stark divide between prosperous and impoverished regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

“only a Church wounded by poverty can convert a doubting world”

The man with leprosy in Uganda

At a leprosy centre in Buluba, Uganda, Sheen brought silver crosses. When he saw a man's damaged flesh, he shivered in fear and the cross fell. But he overcame his fear, touched the man's wounds, and saw himself as the 501st person with leprosy.

Meet Jesus in the wounded

The missionary remains an earthen vessel carrying God's treasure. The encounter with those who suffer becomes an encounter with Christ himself, and the evangelizer is converted by beholding the wounds of the Risen Christ in vulnerable brothers and sisters.

“Blessed is the missionary who digs deep into the heart of the poor to meet Jesus there”

Blessedness measured by faithfulness

Fulton Sheen's blessedness was not measured by the millions who heard him. It was found in the One he never tired of proclaiming and his willingness to encounter that same Christ in the most vulnerable.