PEORIA, Ill. — The beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen was delayed at the request of the bishop in Rochester, New York.
The Catholic News Agency said Bishop Salvator Matano requested the delay due to concerns that Sheen could be cited in the final report covering an ongoing state attorney general’s investigation into New York’s bishops and dioceses.
In September, New York’s attorney general began an investigation into whether any of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses had covered up acts or allegations of clerical sexual abuse.
Sheen was Bishop of Rochester from 1966 to 1969.
Matano said the El Paso, Illinois native was in charge when he appointed a priest named Gerard Guli to the Rochester diocese church. Guli had previously been accused of sexually abusing adults.
Several senior U.S. archbishops were consulted on the matter before the final decision was made to delay Sheen’s beatification by Cardinal Peitro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
The Peoria Diocese said they remain confident the church will find Sheen upheld the church’s values and will reschedule his beatification.
