The Vatican Approves Opening of Archbishop Sheen Sainthood Cause



From CNS NEWS BRIEFS Oct-3-2002



The Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes has approved a petition from the Diocese of Peoria to open the canonization cause of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. The diocesan chancery received a letter Sept. 23 granting approval from Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the congregation. It came just two weeks after Peoria Bishop Daniel R. Jenky announced the diocese's promotion of the sainthood cause. The letter was dated Sept. 14, the same week the diocese's petition was presented in Rome by Msgr. Richard Soseman, diocesan judicial vicar and vice postulator of Archbishop Sheen's sainthood cause. The quick response is a "good indication" that the Vatican is favorable to the cause, Msgr. Soseman told The Catholic Post, Peoria's diocesan newspaper. Archbishop Sheen, who gained fame in the 1950s as the host of the popular television program "Life Is Worth Living," died in 1979 in New York.