(ANSA) New York, September 5 - The Roman Catholic
Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has declined to
hand over to the Archbishop of Peoria, Illinois, Daniel Jenky,
the remains of an aspiring saint, Fulton Sheen, one of the first
television evangelists, Church sources said Friday.
The feud between warring senior prelates for custody of
relics of the dynamic preacher started after his death in 1979
when many Catholics began campaigning for Sheen to be put on the
path to sainthood.
Sheen was declared "venerable" by then Pope Benedict XVI in
2012 as part of his beatification, the first step toward
becoming a saint, after a miracle attributed to Sheen, the
re-animation of an apparently still-born baby, was recognised by
the Vatican.
The next stage was the examination of Sheen's body "so the
necessary relics could be removed," for which Peoria asked the
re-exhumation of the body and its transfer to Illinois.
Dolan, however, vetoed the body being re-examined and the
candidature of Sheen for sainthood was postponed indefinitely,
according to the sources.
Born in Peoria, Sheen was famous, winning two Emmy Awards
for his programme "The Life Worth Living," while his books on
the Virgin Mary were best-sellers and he had a large personal
following among the faithful.
Fiercely anti-communist, Sheen was credited with converting
to Catholicism famous figures such as the auto magnate Henry
Ford and Clare Boothe-Luce, the American heiress and ambassador
to Italy.
In 2012 after his beatification Sheen's body was buried in
St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue, New York.
Jenky in a statement noted that subsequently "after further
discussions with Rome it was decided that Sheen's candidature
for sainthood be relegated to the historic archive of the
Congregation of the Saints".
Cardinal Dolan, who was considered one of the favourites to
become pope in the last conclave, denies having blocked Sheen's
sainthood, vowing to try and kick start the procedure if Peoria
withdraws its claim to the tv evangelist's remains.
"It was Sheen's wish to be buried at St Patrick's," said a
spokesman for Dolan, Joseph Zwilling, "his closest heirs want
him to remain here".
Sheen's family evidently have approved his exhumation but
Dolan is firmly opposed to the search for relics of the
venerable preacher.
"Dismembering the body is worrisome," the spokesman for
Cardinal Dolan said.
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