Officials at the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation hope to finish preparing their case within a year. The whole process, which began in 2003, could cost up to $1-million, and it could be five years before there’s a St. Fulton. But Father Apostoli is hopeful. Sheen was named a "servant of God" on the day his application arrived. And Pope John Paul II twice urged the Sheen Foundation to hurry up with the sainthood bid.
Strategywise, Father Apostoli notes that it is crucial to gather both positive and negative testimony, to prevent any surprises at the sainthood oral exams. In Sheen’s case, the negative will include references to his posh lifestyle — he did not exactly dress like St. Francis, having worked in a haberdashery as a seminary student — and the jealousy he aroused in other men of God.
More troubling is an allegedly fake doctorate. Reportedly tired of lecturing to freshmen at Catholic University, Sheen applied at one point to teach older students. In the process, a hitherto unmentioned — and so-far undocumented — Ph.D. from the Pontifical College Angelicum, in Rome, materialized, miraculously or not, on Sheen’s CV. He got the job.
Eighty-some years later, accounts of the incident differ. Backers claim that Sheen’s not mentioning the degree earlier was proof of his humility. Others say the alleged forgery was common academic ambition. In the end it probably won’t make a difference. Saints are human and have flaws, says Father Apostoli. He cites the postulator working on Mother Teresa’s canonization, who advised the Sheen supporters: "Don’t try to prove he was a saint all his life. Just prove he was a saint the last 15 years."
h/t RP
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