Paul KeenanLate archbishop a step closer to beatification
A Vatican panel of theologians has offered its approval for a miracle linked with the Venerable Fulton Sheen, bringing the famed cleric closer to beatification.
Following the passing, in March, of a medical report into the case compiled by seven doctors to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, the theologians have accepted that there is no natural explanation for the starting of an infant’s heart 61 minutes after he had been delivered stillborn in 2011. Crucial to the case is the claim by the child’s mother that she repeated Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s name throughout the time resuscitation was performed on the child.
The child, James Fulton Engstrom, is now three years old and in good health.
The latest finding will now be passed to bishops and cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints for final review before a full report is offered to Pope Francis for final approval.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen was widely known among US Catholics through his nearly 30 years of evangelisation both on radio and television. His Cause for Canonisation was opened in 2002, and he was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.