Sheen Canonization Process Stalls

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria says a bid to canonize the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a central Illinois native, is stalled indefinitely.  

The Pantagraph reports that Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky sought to have Sheen's body brought to Peoria to be inspected, and for relics to have been collected as part of the canonization process.  But the Archdiocese of New York won't release Sheen's body to the Peoria diocese as part of the process.  

Advocates who want Sheen to be made a saint have finished an investigation into a miracle they attribute to Sheen.  

Sheen was born in El Paso in Woodford County, and grew up in Peoria. He died in 1979 and is entombed in New York, where he spent much of his career and gained national fame for his radio and television commentaries.  Sheen had a weekly program on prime-time network television in the 1950s, which won him an Emmy in 1952.

The New York archdiocese isn't commenting publicly.