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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Peter Smith

He captivated millions on TV. Now Archbishop Fulton Sheen is one step closer to sainthood

Fulton Sheen Beatification - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Bonnie Engstrom believes a long-deceased TV priest helped save her son’s life after he was born in 2010 without a pulse.

The Catholic Church agreed, declaring the boy’s resuscitation a miracle after Engstrom and others sought the heavenly prayers of the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who died in 1979. That determination made Sheen — a towering presence in 20th-century Catholicism, with pioneering broadcasts on radio and TV — eligible for beatification.

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