For one newly married Catholic couple, a recent meeting with the first Illinois-born pope presented a spontaneous opportunity for the couple to express their devotion to another holy Illinoisan — Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen — and to plead with the Pope to help Sheen’s sainthood cause move forward.
Kristen and Austin Savage were married on June 7 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, Illinois.(Photo: Courtesy of Kristen and Austin Savage)
Kristen and Austin Savage were married on June 7 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, Illinois, and honeymooned afterward in Italy. Months before their wedding — in fact, before Pope Leo XIV was even elected — the Savages had obtained tickets to the June 11sposi novelli blessing, a tradition during the pope’s weekly Wednesday audiences whereby newly married couples can meet and receive a blessing from the Roman pontiff.
Speaking to Andrew Hansen on the podcast of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Dive Deep, the Savages said they were waiting at the Vatican with a group of dozens of other couples to see Pope Leo XIV, not expecting that they would get to actually converse with him.
But soon, as the Pope stopped to speak one-on-one with each of the other couples in the group, the Savages realized they would get a rare chance to chat with the Pope — and in all three’s native English, no less.
“To our surprise, he started stopping at every single person. And that was when we were like, ‘Oh, no … what do we say? What do we say?’” Austin recalled with a laugh.
In the end, the couple was inspired to mention to the Pope their devotion to Venerable Archbishop Sheen, a native of El Paso, Illinois, who was a pioneer in Catholic mass media evangelization in the mid- to late-20th century.
The Savages, in fact, first met at a Fulton Sheen-themed Catholic event held at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria — the church where Sheen was ordained a priest and is now buried.
Sheen was scheduled to be beatified back in late 2019, before an unexpected series of setbacks led to his cause being indefinitely delayed — despite a strong interest and devotion to him among the faithful, especially in the United States.
Kristen said she felt as though Venerable Sheen was interceding for them that day at the Vatican and encouraging the couple to plead his case directly to the Pope, whom she described as very friendly, warm and conversational, despite the oppressive Roman summer heat.
“Venerable Fulton Sheen played a major role in our relationship. And during our marriage preparation, we always asked for his intercession. So he’s always been someone who we wanted to see canonized,” Kristen said.
“[So] when I saw the Holy Father, I said, ‘We’d really like to see his canonization’ — and what better person to plead our cause to than the Holy Father himself?”
Austin said Pope Leo responded by saying that he had often watched Venerable Sheen’s television show when he was a child and that the archbishop had had “an influence on him.”
“The Holy Father did specifically say he would remember what we said. So that definitely did give us hope for Fulton Sheen’s canonization. Maybe we will see it during Pope Leo’s pontificate,” Kristen added.
Who Is Venerable Fulton Sheen?
Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, at the age of 24, Sheen was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951, where he remained until his appointment as bishop of Rochester, New York, in 1966. Following his retirement three years later, he was named a titular archbishop. He moved back to New York City until his death in 1979.
During his lifetime, Sheen published dozens of books and hosted several long-running radio and television shows, the most famous of which was Life Is Worth Living, which was first broadcast from 1952 to 1957. His programs were very popular, and he even won an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Television Personality.”
The Diocese of Peoria opened Archbishop Sheen’s cause for sainthood in 2002; and in 2012, Benedict XVI recognized his life of heroic virtue, landing Archbishop Sheen the title of “Venerable.” In 2019, Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession, clearing the way for him to be beatified and thus declared “Blessed,” the penultimate step on the path to sainthood. Only one more miracle attributed to his intercession would need to be recognized before the Vatican could proceed to Sheen’s canonization.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1956(Photo: Public domain)
Sheen was originally scheduled to be beatified in December 2019, but before the beatification could take place, Sheen’s cause was suspended indefinitely amid a New York State Attorney General’s Office investigation into all the state’s dioceses’ handling of clergy-abuse cases. Sheen was never personally accused of any misconduct, and supporters say they have clearly demonstrated through extensive research that Sheen did not mishandle any clergy-abuse cases that came to light when he was bishop of Rochester.
Still, Sheen’s cause remains suspended today, with no new beatification date yet announced. Bishop Louis Tilka of Peoria has said he is continuing to work with his fellow bishops in the United States to come to an agreement on ending the pause and finally beatifying Sheen.
The Savages said they didn’t specifically discuss the delay or the technicalities of Sheen’s cause with Pope Leo, but they did say that they left the conversation heartened by the fact that Leo seemed to have a genuine interest in Sheen and was aware that his cause was ongoing.
“I think that we just [went] into it with the hope that the Holy Spirit will use us to plead to the Holy Father, and the Holy Spirit will, from there, work on his heart, get it into his mind,” Kristen said.
Austin added, “We’re still praying.”
LISTEN
The full conversation with Kristen and Austin Savage can be heard on the Springfield Diocese’s Dive Deep podcast.