ST. LOUIS (OSV News) — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen — the 20th-century American theologian, evangelizer, Catholic communications pioneer, teacher and preacher — is now Blessed Fulton Sheen.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a pro-prefect for the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization, pronounced the Church’s declaration on Archbishop Sheen’s life and witness at a Sept. 24 Mass celebrated in the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.

The location had been selected by Archbishop Sheen’s home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, to accommodate the thousands of pilgrims on hand for the beatification and its surrounding events. Around 50,000 people were in attendance, according to organizers.

The beatification officially occurred between the liturgy’s Penitential Rite and the Gloria. Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, made a formal request for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification to Cardinal Tagle, the papal delegate. A short biography of Archbishop Sheen was read, followed by the formal decree of beatification from Pope Leo XIV. 

With the decree’s public proclamation, Archbishop Sheen is formally counted among the Church’s “beati,” from the Latin word for “blessed.”

James Fulton Engstrom — whose revival from stillbirth in 2010, attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, was formally declared the miracle that moved Archbishop Sheen to beatification — presented a major relic of Archbishop Sheen. 

Enclosed in a special case called a reliquary, the relic is Archbishop Sheen’s mandible, or jawbone, chosen because it represented the archbishop’s tremendous gifts as an orator, teacher and evangelist. 

With the beatification, a portrait of a haloed Archbishop Sheen was also unveiled. In the image, he is notably holding a piece of chalk, which he famously used (along with a blackboard) during his Emmy-winning television show “Life Is Worth Living.” 

This is a breaking news story with more to come.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.