Late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Led Retreat for Filipino Bishops

Late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once visited Baguio City more than 50 years ago to lead a retreat for Filipino bishops, according to a social media post by Mirador Jesuit Villa Retreat House. The pioneer of Catholic media preachers stayed from July 1 to July 6, 1975, to conduct the retreat for members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). At that time, the president of the CBCP was Julio R. Cardinal Rosales, who also served as the Archbishop of Cebu. Rosales' term as head of the CBCP was from 1974 to 1977, marking his second term. The Mirador Retreat House, founded in 1907, also served as a meteorological observatory, and some of its instruments are still present on site. It has become a popular spiritual and religious space for visitors seeking prayer away from the city's hustle and bustle. Mirador's website states that groups of priests, religious, and lay people come for retreats, and conferences are held by bishops, scholars, student leaders, journalists, and businessmen. It is described as a place where "Men and women who want time to think, time to reflect on what they are, what they must be or do come here, to this quiet hill beneath a quiet heaven: to reflect, to pray, to observe the signs of our troubled, yet immensely hopeful, times; to open windows to even broader horizons." In March this year, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints announced that former Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, currently the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, would preside over the beatification rites that would bring Sheen a step closer to sainthood. The beatification is scheduled to be held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States on September 24, 2026. Archbishop Fulton Sheen was a popular preacher on television and radio. Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria described him as "... was one of the greatest voices of evangelization in the Church and the world in the 20th century." Sheen was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 in recognition of his heroic virtue. In 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle that occurred through the intercession of Archbishop Sheen, clearing the path for his beatification.