The cited article from The Pillar portal reports on the planned beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen by the leadership of the Diocese of Peoria, presenting it as a joyous celebration of a beloved American Catholic figure. It frames Sheen’s life and ministry through the lens of modern Catholic sentimentality, emphasizing his “authenticity,” “humor,” and “relatability” while glossing over his profound theological compromises and his active role in the post-conciliar revolution. The article’s thesis is that Sheen’s message of “joy” and “personal relationship with Jesus” remains critically relevant today, and that his beatification is a unifying moment for the post-Vatican II “Church.” This analysis will demonstrate that Sheen’s beatification is not a cause for celebration but a stark manifestation of the neo-church’s apostasy, a blasphemous farce that exalts a key agent of Modernism against the immutable faith of the Catholic Church.
The Myth of “America’s Bishop”: A Legacy of Theological Compromise
The article lauds Sheen as a master communicator who used new media for evangelization. This narrative deliberately omits the substance of what he communicated, especially in his later years. Sheen’s theological evolution is a textbook case of the “synthesis of all heresies”—Modernism—condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis and Lamentabili sane exitu. His pre-Vatican II writings already contained ambiguities on the nature of the Church and religious liberty, but his post-1962 actions were decisive. He embraced the “new Pentecost” of Vatican II, participated in the revolutionary liturgical deconstruction, and publicly praised the council’s “spirit.” His famous 1966 book, The Cross and the Beatitudes, promotes a “psychology of holiness” that reduces the supernatural life of grace to humanistic self-actualization, directly contradicting the Council of Trent’s doctrine on justification and the sacraments.
The article mentions his “challenges” with Cardinal Spellman and his administrative struggles in Rochester as quaint anecdotes. In reality, these conflicts often stemmed from Sheen’s progressive alliances and his public clashes with more traditionally minded bishops. His support for the “open” parish model and his involvement with the so-called “Peoria Plan” for parish councils were early experiments in the collegial and democratic ecclesiology that would later be formalized at Vatican II. This is not a man of “humility” but a man who consistently promoted the “errors of the day,” as Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors (Propositions 15, 16, 78 on religious indifferentism and the separation of Church and State).
Silence on the Supernatural: The Omission of Christ’s Kingship
The interview is saturated with naturalistic language: “authenticity,” “human relationships,” “joy,” “relatability.” This is the “cult of man” condemned by Pius XI in Quas Primas. The encyclical, instituting the feast of Christ the King, states unequivocally that the plague of its time was the denial of “Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations,” leading to “the whole society profoundly shaken and heading towards destruction.” Where in the article is this absolute primacy of Christ’s kingship over individuals, families, and states mentioned? Nowhere. Sheen’s message, as presented, is one of personal piety divorced from the social reign of Christ. This is a direct rejection of the papal teaching: “Let rulers of states therefore not refuse public veneration and obedience to the reigning Christ” (Quas Primas).
The article’s focus on Sheen’s “personal relationship with Jesus” echoes the Protestant subjectivism condemned in the Syllabus (Proposition 20: “The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion”). Sheen’s ecumenical outreach, his praise for other faiths, and his minimization of doctrinal differences in his later broadcasts placed him squarely in the camp of those who, as Pius IX declared, hold that “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion” (Syllabus, Prop. 18). This is not a “respect for human dignity” but a betrayal of the exclusive claim of the Catholic Church: “There is no salvation outside the Church” (Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus).
The Beatification Itself: A Canonization of Conciliar Errors
The entire premise of Sheen’s beatification is rooted in the conciliar “magisterium” of the neo-church, which has no authority. The article treats the “Holy See” and the process as legitimate. From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, the See is vacant (sedes vacans) since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, as the post-conciliar “popes” have publicly and obstinately professed heresy, thereby losing the papacy ipso facto (cf. St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice; Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code). Therefore, any “beatification” or “canonization” performed by the conciliar hierarchy is null and void. It is a satanic parody, “consecrating” a promoter of the very errors Pius X and Pius IX condemned.
The article notes the “long road” with legal fights and delays. This is not the work of the Holy Ghost but the chaotic, human power politics of the conciliar sect. The resolution of bankruptcy proceedings in Rochester is cited as a factor. The implication is scandalous: that financial and legal considerations, not sanctity and orthodoxy, determine the neo-church’s “saint-making” calendar. This reduces the Communion of Saints to a PR operation.
Sheen and the “New Technology”: A Trojan Horse for Apostasy
The article praises Sheen’s use of television as a model for engaging with AI today. This is a dangerous analogy. Sheen’s medium, while novel, was still used to preach Catholic doctrine (albeit increasingly watered down). The content was the problem, not the medium. Today’s AI technology is inherently Promethean, a tool for creating a synthetic reality that replaces God’s natural order and human intellect. Sheen’s principle—that technology must serve the human person and lead to the sacraments—is inverted in the digital age, where the “virtual” replaces the Real Presence. The neo-church’s embrace of AI is a further step into the “abomination of desolation,” a technocratic replacement of the supernatural. Sheen’s legacy, if anything, warns against the hubris of using new tools without a firm foundation in immutable truth—a foundation the conciliar church has systematically destroyed.
Conclusion: Reject the Abomination, Return to Tradition
The beatification of Fulton Sheen is a public act of apostasy. It honors a man who, through his writings, speeches, and actions, contributed significantly to the diffusion of Modernist errors: religious indifferentism, the secularization of the Church, the demotion of the sacraments, and the reduction of the faith to a personal, emotional experience. The article’s portrayal of him as a model of “joy” and “humility” is a grotesque caricade. True joy is found in the sorrow of the Cross and the immutable truths of the faith. True humility is submission to the Kingship of Christ and the authority of His Church as it existed before the revolution of 1958.
The faithful are not called to “celebrate” this blasphemous event. They are called to repudiate it. They must flee the conciliar structures and the “shepherds” who promote such canonizations. The only legitimate response is to cling to the sedes that is truly vacant, to the faith of the pre-conciliar Church, and to the true Mass and sacraments administered by bishops and priests who reject the neo-church and its errors. The message of Fulton Sheen, as promoted by the Peoria diocese and the Vatican, is the message of the Antichrist: a Christ without the Cross, a Church without dogma, and a salvation without the necessity of the Catholic faith. This is the spirit of the world, not the Spirit of God.
**TAGS:** Fulton Sheen, beatification, Modernism, neo-church, Pius X, Pius XI, sedevacantism, Quas Primas, Syllabus of Errors, Lamentabili
Source:
Joy, fidelity, humility – Peoria’s bishop on Fulton Sheen’s message to America (pillarcatholic.com)
Date: 17.02.2026