Given how deep the divisions in the Catholic Church in the United States have become, sadly, it is perhaps inevitable that one of the Church’s favourite sons, the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, should have become caught up in them.

Given how deep the divisions in the Catholic Church in the United States have become, sadly, it is perhaps inevitable that one of the Church’s favourite sons, the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, should have become caught up in them. He was due to be beatified next week, his cause having been approved by Pope Francis, but a delay has been granted at the request of the bishop of his old diocese, Rochester in New York State. (“Archbishop” was an honorary title granted after he retired.)

The reason given was that an investigation had been started by the state’s attorney general into the extent of child abuse by Catholic clergy, and the failure of church authorities to deal with it. Rochester is one of the dioceses under investigation, and an allegation has emerged that Sheen may have moved a priest accused of abuse from one post to another rather than report him to the authorities.

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