Mainstream media outlet EWTN has deleted a video of Fulton Sheen it shared to its X account earlier this week following blowback from faithful lay Catholics on the platform.
The clip featured Sheen enthusiastically reciting dissident Teilhard de Chardin’s infamous 1923 “Desert Prayer” on one of his television programs in the middle part of the 20th century.
In the 53-second video, Sheen invoked what many users had pointed out was a disturbing and even scandalous part of the “prayer,” namely when Teilhard writes of “spread[ing] my hands over the entire universe and tak[ing] its immensity as the matter of my sacrifice” in lieu of offering a Catholic Mass.
While it is unclear when or why EWTN removed the post, which was first published on Tuesday, Integrity editor American Reform noticed on Thursday morning that it was no longer available for viewing.
He then shared news on X that the link was broken.
Fortunately, American Reform was able to save the video but was unable to recover its audio. He has since shared it to his X account. It can be viewed below or by clicking here.
Numerous Catholic influencers criticized the outlet, which has been lead by Zionist Montse Alvarado.
The Dispatch
Thomas Mirus, who serves as the editor-in-chief of Catholic Culture, and is certainly no “Radical Traditionalist,” responded to EWTN‘s X post by stating: “You shouldn’t [have] been promoting this material” since “Teilhard was a heretic and a racist eugenicist.”
Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute weighed in as well. “Chardin was a heretic and [was] likely possessed … it is an absolute shame EWTN is pushing Chardin through Sheen,” he exclaimed.
Meanwhile, FreeIrishMan7 said that the clip “exposes [Sheen] as a lover of one of the most abhorrent modernist heretics” in Church history. He also said that “rather than want the truth” EWTN covers “it [up] when it’s uncomfortable.”
Integrity has reached out to EWTN for comment via its website seeing how the network did not provide a public explanation as to why the video was taken down or clarified who approved it. As of the publication of this article, Integrity has not received an explanation. Integrity will share EWTN’s response with its readers as soon as it is received.
Over the last 24 hours, EWTN has been repeatedly sharing other clips of Sheen from his television program to its X account, seemingly in an attempt to clean up his unorthodox promotion of Teilhard. It has also been uncritically promoting Sheen’s beatification attempt next month.
Integrity, on the other hand, has been one of if not the only Catholic news outlets in the world to report on that event in an objective manner. Past articles here and here have noted Sheen’s eagerness to implement the revolutionary reforms approved by the Council in the years that followed.
Just two years after penning his “Desert Prayer,” Teilhard de Chardin was censored by his Jesuit religious superior. His works were later formally condemned by the Holy Office in 1962. The accompanying monitum warned bishops, religious superiors, seminary rectors, and others to protect the minds of the faithful, “particularly of the youth,” against the dangers posed by Teilhard’s writings and those of his followers as they contain “serious errors” that “offend Catholic doctrine.”
Strangely, EWTN previously had this exact monitum on its website, presumably to warn their audience about his writings, but it is now unavailable, by all appearances having been deleted.
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