Archbishop Fulton Sheen was formally beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis on Thursday, marking a significant step towards possible sainthood for one of America's most influential twentieth-century religious figures. Conservative commentator Michael Knowles has argued that if Sheen were delivering his original messages about Christianity, morality and communism in 2026, he would immediately be branded a "far-right extremist" by modern critics, despite requiring no change to his core message.

Sheen became one of America's most successful religious broadcasters, with his radio programme "The Catholic Hour" reaching 4 million listeners and his television show "Life Is Worth Living" capturing an estimated 30 million viewers. He competed directly with entertainment titans such as Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra in television ratings, won an Emmy for outstanding television personality, and appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Knowles contends that Sheen's traditional Catholic teachings on sex, marriage and human nature would provoke particularly fierce criticism in contemporary culture, though he suggested Sheen would have enthusiastically embraced modern platforms like podcasts and social media.