The Diocese of Peoria announced that registration for attending the beatification of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will open next week. The elevation to the altars will take place on September 24 in St. Louis (Missouri).
The announcement was made by the Bishop of Peoria, Louis Tylka, who confirmed that tickets for the beatification Mass and other related events will be available during the week of June 22 through the official website of the Fulton Sheen Foundation.
A long-awaited beatification
The ceremony will be held on September 24, 2026, at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis and is expected to draw thousands of pilgrims from across the United States and other countries.
The opening of registration marks another step toward a celebration that for years seemed uncertain. Although Pope Francis approved in 2019 the miracle attributed to the intercession of Fulton Sheen, the beatification ceremony planned for that same year was suspended due to various lawsuits and controversies related to the former Diocese of Rochester.
That decision caused deep disappointment among those who had spent decades promoting the cause of the celebrated archbishop. Finally, with the obstacles overcome, the Church is preparing to publicly recognize the holiness of one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century North American Catholicism.
The evangelizer who conquered television
Born in 1895 and died in 1979, Fulton Sheen was a priest, bishop, writer, and one of the great Catholic communicators of contemporary history.
His popularity reached extraordinary dimensions thanks to his radio and television programs, especially Life Is Worth Living, which in the 1950s gathered millions of viewers each week. At a time when television was beginning to transform social life, Sheen understood before many others the evangelizing potential of the new media.
A voice that continues to resonate today
Decades after his death, Fulton Sheen remains a reference point for countless Catholics around the world.
His reflections on the secularization of the West, the crisis of faith, the loss of the sense of God, and the need for a new evangelization have gained renewed relevance in a context marked by the growing religious disaffection of broad sectors of society.
Among his most frequently cited quotes is the warning that the greatest threat to the Church would not come from external persecution, but from the loss of faith from within. His lectures, books, and homilies continue to be widely disseminated and still inspire priests, laity, and evangelizers.
Two weeks of celebrations
The beatification will be the centerpiece of an extensive program that will take place between September 15 and 26 in Peoria and St. Louis.
Pilgrims will be able to participate in holy hours, Eucharistic celebrations, visits to Fulton Sheen’s tomb, and various commemorative events organized by the Diocese of Peoria, which considers the promotion of his cause for canonization one of its main pastoral priorities.
Due to the large expected attendance, organizers have established a pre-registration system for both the beatification Mass and some of the program’s most prominent events.