The EWTN News portal reports on the inaugural “Sheen Awards” gala scheduled for September 25, 2026, in Peoria, Illinois, orchestrated by the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation and “Bishop” Lou Tylka of the Peoria diocese. The event, timed to follow the “beatification” of Fulton Sheen by the antipope Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) in St. Louis, features as headliners “Bishop” Robert Barron — founder of the “Word on Fire” media empire — and Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus Christ in the television series “The Chosen.” The guest list includes the antipope’s Nuncio to the United States, “Archbishop” Gabriel Caccia, along with an assortment of media personalities and “Catholic” influencers. This spectacle constitutes a brazen manifestation of the abomination of desolation predicted by Daniel and Our Lord (Matt. 24:15): the usurpation of divine worship by a paramasonic structure that replaces the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary with a “gala” celebrating human celebrity and technological prowess.
The Theatrical Substitution of the Supernatural by the Spectacular
The cited article reveals the very essence of the post-conciliar apostasy: the reduction of the Church’s divine mission — salus animarum suprema lex (the salvation of souls is the supreme law) — to a media strategy. The “Sheen Awards” are explicitly designed to “recognize individuals whose work in media, evangelization, mission, and liturgy continues his mission of bringing Christ to the world with creativity, conviction, and joy.” Note the semantic inversion: “liturgy” is listed as a subset of “media,” and “joy” is detached from the gaudium cum veritate (joy with truth) of the Holy Ghost, replaced by the “creativity” of fallen man.
Pius XI, in Quas Primas (1925), thundered against precisely this secularist mentality:
“When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states and when authority was derived not from God but from men, the foundations of that authority were destroyed… For this reason, the entire human society had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation.”
The “Sheen Awards” gala, held in a Civic Center — a temple of the secular city — under the presidency of a “bishop” who derives his “mandate” from the usurper in the Vatican, is the liturgical enactment of this destruction. It is the cult of man condemned by the Syllabus of Errors (Pius IX, 1864), which anathematizes the proposition:
“The civil government… has a right to an indirect negative power over religious affairs… The secular power has authority to rescind… solemn conventions… without the consent of the Apostolic See.” (Errors 41, 43)
Here, the “Apostolic See” is occupied by an antipope; the “secular power” (the Civic Center, the media market, the Nuncio representing a Vatican-State concordat logic) dictates the terms of the “celebration.”
Idolatry of the Image: The “Chosen” Christ and the Second Commandment
The centerpiece of this apostasy is Jonathan Roumie, hailed by “Bishop” Tylka for his “deep Catholic faith” which “influences his acting in bringing Jesus to life.” This is the formal institution of idolatry within the neo-church. The Second Commandment (Non facies tibi sculptile — Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image) forbids the fabrication of a visible representation of the Divine Nature for the purpose of worship or veneration. The Incarnation permits the depiction of Christ’s humanity, but the hypostatic union demands that any image point exclusively to the Person of the Word, not to the actor’s “performance.”
Roumie’s statement — “It continues to be an inspiration to me as to just how much work there is for me to do to try to aspire to the reach and impact he had on culture” — exposes the Pelagian core of this enterprise: salvation as “reach,” “impact,” and “work” of man. The “Chosen” series, produced by a Mormon-owned studio (Angel Studios) and financed by crowd-funding, presents a kenotic Christ — merely human, learning, doubting, joking — stripped of the majestas Dei. This aligns with the Modernist propositions condemned in Lamentabili Sane Exitu (1907):
“The Gospels do not prove the Divinity of Jesus Christ, but it is a dogma which Christian consciousness has derived from the concept of the Messiah.” (Prop. 27)
“The historical Christ is considerably lower than the Christ of faith.” (Prop. 29)
Roumie’s “Jesus” is the Modernist “Jesus of history,” a construct of “Christian consciousness” (i.e., audience feedback and screenwriting), not the Christus Rex of Quas Primas who “reigns in the minds of men… because He Himself is Truth.”
“Bishop” Barron: The Architect of the “Hermeneutic of Continuity” Deception
Robert Barron is presented as the “leading successor to Sheen’s legacy,” the “bishop of Catholic social media.” From the perspective of integral theology, Barron is a manifest heretic who, by the principle articulated by St. Robert Bellarmine and canonized in Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code, has automatically lost any ecclesiastical office he might have received (ipso facto, without declaration). The Defense of Sedevacantism file establishes:
“A manifest heretic cannot be Pope or a member of the Church… A non-Christian in no way can be Pope… The reason for this is that he cannot be the head of something of which he is not a member; now, he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian.”
Barron’s public record is a compendium of condemned errors:
- Universal Salvationism / Indifferentism: His repeated hope for the salvation of non-Christians without explicit faith and baptism contradicts Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (Fourth Lateran Council, Council of Florence, Pius IX Quanto Conficiamur Moerore). The Syllabus condemns:
“Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation.” (Error 16)
- Evolution of Dogma / Modernist Exegesis: His promotion of the “Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons” and “Word on Fire” Bible utilizes the historical-critical method condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi and Lamentabili (Props. 12, 13, 15, 23).
- False Ecumenism / Religious Liberty: His participation in interreligious events (e.g., the 2024 “National Eucharistic Congress” which featured Protestant “worship” and invalid “ordinations”) violates the First Commandment and Mortalium Animos (Pius XI, 1928).
His presence as a “headliner” alongside an actor confirms the neo-church’s nature: a paramasonic structure where “bishops” are merely CEOs of religious non-profits, validated by media metrics, not Apostolic Succession.
The Invalidity of the “Beatification” and the “Nuncio”
The article notes the “beatification” of Sheen by “Leo XIV” (Prevost) and the attendance of “Archbishop” Gabriel Caccia, the “Apostolic Nuncio.” Since the See of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pius XII (1958) — the line of claimants (John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, Leo XIV) being manifest heretics who ipso facto lost jurisdiction per Bellarmine and Cum ex Apostolatus Officio (Paul IV) — this “beatification” is null, void, and of no effect. It is a theatrical production of the synagogue of Satan (Apoc. 2:9; 3:9), intended to legitimize the conciliar revolution. The “Nuncio” represents a foreign power (the Vatican City State) that has usurped the temporal patrimony of the Church to serve the Masonic “ecumenical” agenda. His presence “shows the importance,” says Tylka — importance for the City of Man, not the City of God.
The “Sheen” Precedent: Proto-Modernist Media Clericalism
Fulton Sheen himself, while possessing rhetorical brilliance, was a pioneer of the clericalization of the laity and the laicization of the clergy via television. His “Life is Worth Living” show reduced the Depositum Fidei to self-help psychology and anti-communist patriotism, prefiguring the “Catholicism” series of Barron. Sheen’s cause was championed by the modernist establishment (including the “canonization” of John Paul II) precisely because he represents the media priest — the model for the post-conciliar “evangelizer” who seeks “reach” rather than sanctitas. The “Sheen Awards” canonize this deviation: the replacement of the Sanctissimum Sacrificium by the “media event.”
Symptomatic Level: The “Light-Life” of the Neo-Church
The roster of “special guests” — David Henrie (“Seeking Beauty”), “Monsignor” Roger Landry (Pontifical Mission Societies), Alex Jones (Hallow App CEO), Katie Prejean McGrady — reads like a directory of the Catholic Industrial Complex. Hallow, a meditation app, commodifies contemplation; “Pontifical Mission Societies” under the antipope fund syncretistic “dialogue” rather than conversion; “Seeking Beauty” aestheticizes the faith. This is the naturalism condemned by Pius IX:
“The science of philosophical things and morals and also civil laws may and ought to keep aloof from divine and ecclesiastical authority.” (Error 57)
“No other forces are to be recognized except those which reside in matter, and all the rectitude and excellence of morality ought to be placed in the accumulation and increase of riches by every possible means, and the gratification of pleasure.” (Error 58)
The “gala” at the Peoria Civic Center, with tickets sold to the public, aired on EWTN (the network that mainstreamed the Novus Ordo and the charismatic movement), is the synagogue of Satan celebrating its own triumph. It is the counter-church of the Antichrist described by St. Paul (2 Thess. 2:3-4): “the man of sin… sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The “temple” here is the media apparatus; the “god” is the audience share.
Conclusion: Return to the Kingship of Christ the King
The only remedy to this satanic farce is the integral restoration of the Social Kingship of Christ proclaimed by Pius XI in Quas Primas:
“If rulers and legitimate superiors will have the conviction that they exercise authority not so much by their own right as by the command and in the place of the Divine King, everyone will notice how religiously and wisely they will use their authority… For what we wrote at the beginning of Our Pontificate about the diminishing authority of law and respect for power… When God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.”
The “Sheen Awards” are the ludibrium (mockery) of the true Church. True Catholics — those adhering to the Sede Vacante position, preserving the Mass of Trent, the doctrine of the Fathers, and the jurisdiction of the last true Pope, Pius XII — must anathematize this spectacle. Non est in eo veritas (There is no truth in him/it). The “beatification” is invalid; the “bishops” are hirelings (John 10:12); the actor is an idolater; the Nuncio is a diplomat of a Masonic state. Vade retro, Satana. The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world (John 18:36), and its King will not share His glory with a “media gala.”
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
Source:
Jonathan Roumie, Bishop Robert Barron to headline first annual ‘Sheen Awards’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 03.09.2026