Fulton Sheen’s blessedness came from mission, humility, Tagle says
ST. LOUIS — Archbishop Fulton Sheen reached millions through radio and television, but Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said Thursday that his fame was not what made the American churchman “Blessed.”
Preaching at the archbishop’s beatification Mass at the Dome at America’s Center, Tagle said the American archbishop’s blessedness came from a Christ-centered mission marked by humility and care for the poor and vulnerable.
“It is for being a zealous and creative evangelizer and advocate for mission that Fulton Sheen is called blessed, or fortunate, or happy,” Tagle said.
He recalled an exchange between Sheen and Pope Pius XII in which the pope asked how many people Sheen had converted.
Sheen said he never counted them, fearing he might begin to think those conversions belonged to him. He instead described himself as “simply a porter” who sometimes helped lead people to the open door of God’s house.
For Tagle, the image captured Sheen’s humility as an evangelizer: He did not claim ownership of the people he encountered or credit for what God accomplished in them.
“Blessed are you, porter to the door of God’s house!” Tagle said.
About 50,000 worshippers from 49 states and 10 countries attended the Mass, which included a procession of about 1,000 priests, 89 bishops, and hundreds of deacons and seminarians.
Sheen was born in El Paso, Illinois, and later lived in Peoria. He studied and taught philosophy before becoming one of the Catholic Church’s best-known broadcasters.
He began on radio before moving to television in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably with “Life Is Worth Living,” which reached an international audience.
But the cardinal said Sheen’s evangelizing mission extended beyond broadcasting to personal encounters, particularly with people who were poor, suffering or overlooked.
During the Second Vatican Council in 1964, Sheen urged Church leaders to pay greater attention to poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Tagle said Sheen saw care for the poor as an essential part of following Christ, not merely an ideological concern.
Tagle recalled Sheen’s visit to a center in Buluba, Uganda, where about 500 people with leprosy lived. Sheen had brought silver crosses for them.
When a man with severely damaged flesh reached out for a cross, Sheen initially recoiled, Tagle said. He then recognized the contradiction between his reaction and the message of the cross.
The cross represented Christ, who became vulnerable and drew near to people suffering from disease. Sheen overcame his fear and held the man’s damaged flesh, Tagle said.
For Tagle, the encounter showed that evangelization also requires allowing encounters with wounded people to change the evangelizer.
“Blessed is the evangelizer, converted by beholding and touching the wounds of the risen Christ in wounded brothers and sisters,” Tagle said.
Sheen was declared Venerable in 2012 after the Vatican recognized his heroic virtue. Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession in 2019, clearing the way for his beatification.
“Blessed is the missionary who digs deep into the heart of the poor to meet Jesus there.”
