On September 24, 2026, the Church will celebrate the beatification of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Louis, United States. Sheen was one of the best-known Catholic evangelists of the 20th century and a pioneer in proclaiming the Gospel through radio and television.
EWTN will broadcast the event and the Beatification Mass will begin at 9:00 p.m. Rome time.
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When will Fulton Sheen be beatified?
The Beatification Mass for Fulton Sheen will be celebrated on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, a venue chosen to allow a large number of faithful to participate in the celebration.
The Mass will begin at 2:00 p.m. in St. Louis, corresponding to 9:00 p.m. in Rome, Italy.
EWTN will also offer special coverage of the day in English beginning at 3:00 p.m. Rome time, with live reports, analysis and commentary before and after the celebration.
The Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization and the papal legate for the celebration.
Who was Fulton Sheen?
Fulton J. Sheen was born in Illinois in 1895 and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in 1919. He later became an auxiliary bishop of New York and then bishop of Rochester.
His international fame was largely due to his ability to use the new forms of media of his time to proclaim the Catholic faith.
Through his television program Life Is Worth Living, broadcast during the 1950s, Sheen brought reflections on faith, morality and the meaning of life into millions of homes, becoming one of the most recognizable Catholic figures on American television.
EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael P. Warsaw has described him as “one of the great evangelists of the 20th century” and a pioneer in using the media to proclaim the Gospel.
A historic moment for the Church
Fulton Sheen’s cause for canonization was opened in 2002. Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable in 2012, while in 2019 Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to his intercession, clearing the way for his beatification.
The September 24 celebration represents a particularly significant moment for the Church in the United States, as well as for the Catholic media world.
Decades before the founding of EWTN, Sheen had already demonstrated how radio and television could become powerful instruments of evangelization. His ability to communicate the faith in accessible language to an enormous audience remains one of the most recognizable aspects of his legacy.
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