On Sept. 24, 2026, more than 50,000 Catholics – including 90 bishops, 1,000 priests, 250 deacons and some 1,600 men and women religious – gathered at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis to celebrate the Mass for Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification. In a clear nod to Sheen’s evangelizing legacy, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization, was chosen as the official papal delegate representing Pope Leo XIV, and served as the main celebrant for the liturgy.

The opening of the Mass for the beatification featured several moving moments, including the reading of Fulton Sheen’s biography by his great nephew, and the reading of the apostolic letter from Pope Leo XIV declaring him Blessed in both Latin and English. Immediately following, a portrait of Fulton Sheen was unveiled, and his major relics were brought forward, carried by James Fulton Engstrom, accompanied by his parents and siblings. Stillborn and without a heartbeat for 61 minutes in 2010, James miraculously resuscitated after his parents invoked the intercession of Fulton Sheen. This miracle was officially recognized by the Vatican in 2019 and paved the way for his beatification.

Repeating lines from Pope Leo’s apostolic letter declaring him Blessed, Cardinal Tagle described Archbishop Sheen during his homily as “a tireless preacher of the Gospel through the modern means of communication and a diligent shepherd animated by missionary zeal.”

The homily focused on two aspects of blessedness found in the readings chosen for the Mass and which are evident in the life and mission of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.

First, Cardinal Tagle spoke of missionary evangelizers as truly blessed because of their communion with Jesus. True missionary evangelizers know the Gospel they proclaim and the power they carry within them is not their own.

Cardinal Tagle shared a powerful story from Sheen’s life illustrating this. When asked by Pope Pius XII how many conversions he could claim as his own, attributed to his ministry, Sheen answered the pope, “I really have not counted, in order not to have the temptation to believe that they were mine.” Then he added that he saw himself “simply as a porter who is sometimes able to lead people to the open door of the house of God … I have had some success as a porter.”

Cardinal Tagle’s second point concerned Sheen’s solicitude for the poor, borne from his immense engagement with the missions: “For Archbishop Sheen, caring for the poor was not ideological propaganda but an imperative for the family of Christ, of the joining of the Church and the Missions, and of the conversion inspired by the Holy Spirit.” 

After communion Bishop Louis Tylka, Bishop of Peoria, invited all the faithful to pray for Blessed Fulton Sheen’s ongoing canonization process, calling the whole Church to entrust themselves to his intercession as they draw inspiration from his life and witness.

The celebration of Blessed Fulton Sheen’s beatification continued with Masses of thanksgiving being offered at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria, Illinois, Sheen’s home diocese.