By ANDREW HANSEN

      Editor

June 2025 will be a month Kristen and Austin Savage of Peoria will never forget. Not just because they were married June 7 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield (Kristen is from the Springfield area), or that they honeymooned in Italy, taking in the glory of Rome, the Vatican, and all the sacred splendor the Eternal City offers.

What made it unforgettable was an unexpected and extraordinary moment: a personal conversation with Pope Leo XIV during a papal audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“It was surreal,” Kristen said. “St. Peter’s Square is huge. We were sitting close to where the pope would be, and we were shaking. We couldn’t believe we were about to see the pope. It was a great blessing to be there.”

The Savages had planned to attend a Wednesday papal audience as part of their honeymoon, hoping for a newlywed blessing — but unsure what it would look like, if it would even happen at all.

“We didn’t know if the pope was going to do a general blessing over all the newlyweds there or a group of four or five, but to our surprise, he started stopping at every single person,” Austin said.

In that moment, the couple looked at each other and asked, “What are we going to say to him?”

Knowing they might only get a minute or two, the Savages decided to bring up someone near and dear to their faith journey: Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a native of El Paso, Ill., near Peoria, and a towering figure in 20th-century Catholic media. The couple wants to see Venerable Sheen become a saint.

“I’d like to think Fulton Sheen was interceding for us to bring his canonization cause (to the Holy Father),” Kristen said. “When I saw the Holy Father, I said, ‘We’d really like to see his canonization,’ and who better to ask and plead our case to than the Holy Father himself.”

The couple says that Pope Leo told them that he had watched Fulton Sheen on television as a child and that Archbishop Sheen “had an influence on him.” 

“What gave me a lot of hope was this is the first inclination or notice that Fulton Sheen was even on Pope Leo’s radar at all,” Austin said. “Being from Illinois, you always wondered, ‘Does the pope know about Fulton Sheen? Has he thought about him?’ We said, ‘Peoria,’ and he lit up.”

“Pope Leo was very conversational,” Kristen said. “He was easy to get along with. He was very warm and friendly, and he genuinely wanted to be there talking.”

“It just felt like you knew him,” Austin said. “Very normal, natural, casual.”

Fulton Sheen’s legacy — and his pause

Archbishop Sheen, known for his charismatic preaching, popular TV program Life is Worth Living, and compelling books, was declared “Venerable” in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, step two of four of becoming a saint in the Catholic Church. In 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributable to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, paving the way for his beatification, step three. The medically unexplainable story involves the 2010 recovery of James Fulton Engstrom, who did not breathe for 61 minutes after being born. As the doctors in a Peoria hospital were about to declare him dead, his heart miraculously started beating again. Engstrom is healthy today. (This incredible story was featured in the diocese’s documentary, God is Alive.)

Archbishop Sheen’s beatification was scheduled and all set for Dec. 21, 2019, in Peoria. This Mass would formally make him “Blessed Sheen,” step three of becoming a saint (a second miracle attributable to Archbishop Sheen would then make him a saint). Then, just weeks before it was set to take place, the Beatification Mass was canceled. This, as the Diocese of Rochester (New York) raised concerns due to a broader New York State investigation into clergy abuse. Fulton Sheen was bishop of Rochester in the 1960s. Sheen was not personally accused and it was also demonstrated that Sheen didn’t mishandle any clergy abuse cases that came forward when he was Bishop of Rochester. Despite everything seemingly fine today, the Beatification Mass has remained indefinitely paused.

Bishop Louis Tilka of Peoria continues to press for Venerable Sheen’s cause. In May 2025, he said this to WMBD News in Peoria: “We believe that someday the Church will indeed catch up with Fulton Sheen, meaning that the Church will canonize him. But at present, we’re just working with the other dioceses and the Universal Church to move forward and move beyond the pause so that we can move to the beatification of Fulton Sheen.”

Though the Savages didn’t address the specifics of Fulton Sheen’s current paused sainthood cause, Kristen said the pope’s response gave them hope.

“We went in with the hope that the Holy Spirit would use us to plead to the Holy Father, and the Holy Spirit will work on Pope Leo’s heart and get Sheen into his mind,” Kristen said. “The Holy Father did specifically say that he would remember what we said. So, that that gave us hope for Sheen’s canonization and maybe we will see it during Pope Leo’s pontificate.”

Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, the same day as Fulton Sheen’s birthday.

An encounter rooted in Sheen’s legacy

The Savages connection to Venerable Sheen is more than spiritual — it’s personal. The couple met at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria at a Fulton Sheen themed event, the very church Fulton Sheen was ordained to the priesthood and where he is buried. During their marriage preparation, the couple would always ask for Venerable Sheen’s intercession.

They’re not the only ones. They know of multiple couples who also met or reconnected at that same event — and are now married.

“It was just very fitting given what Fulton Sheen spoke about during his life, that now all these couples at a Fulton Sheen event are being brought together,” Kristen said. “We like to think Sheen played a role in our relationship. So, that is why we brought it up to the Holy Father.”

A Papal Blessing to remember

After their conversation, the couple received Pope Leo’s blessing on their marriage.

“We got so deep in conversation, the pope almost forgot to give the blessing. Right before the photo, we mentioned to the pope that we would be grateful for his blessing, and he was like, ‘Oh, yeah,’” Kristen said with a laugh. “So, he gave the blessing then. I don’t remember the exact words he said, but it was a blessing over our marriage. We’ll treasure that moment forever.”

An unforgettable start to married life

Now back in Peoria and settling into newlywed life and their new home, Kristen and Austin say that month of June feels like a holy blur — wedding, honeymoon, beautiful Catholic churches, and a papal encounter rolled into one.

“It was really unreal,” Austin said. “When we were first let in past security, there’s this big ramp up to the main stage area, and I didn’t even dare take a photo. That whole day, we had been taking pictures of everything, but I was just in such disbelief. I kept thinking that any minute now, security’s going to come by and say, ‘Oh, sorry, we made a mistake.’ I was shaking, I just couldn’t believe it. It was so surreal. Getting to visit Rome and go to the Vatican — the central hub, the capital of our religion — it was incredible. I think ‘surreal’ is the best word. You hear all these stories, but to actually be there was just an amazing honor.”

“It was definitely a holy place,” Kristen said. “There were a lot of Catholic churches everywhere, and we got to go inside St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel and see a lot of artworks glorifying God. It was wonderful to be there, and I’m definitely feeling the graces from having been there, from receiving the Holy Father’s blessing, and from just having been married. So yeah, things are going pretty good.”

Answers taken and edited from Hansen’s interview with the Savages on Dive Deep, the podcast of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Listen and subscribe to by going to youtube.com/diospringfield or searching “Dive Deep” on all the major podcast platforms.