The Catholic church remains a bastion for conservative Christian thinking among modern 21st century interpretations, and despite certain decisive actions by Pope Francis, Catholic tradition remains mostly unchanged. Of the many fascinating traditions, none stands out more than the belief in miracles and the canonization of Saints, which formally declares a candidate to be blessed by God and assuredly in Heaven. Despite the old fashioned nature of this practice, I think its existence is important to explain so called miracles which are unable to be explained through current scientific means, but is an issue because it encourages religious leaders to garner prayer and praise for themselves over God in order to gain sainthood.
The process to become Canonized in Catholic tradition is rigorous, with it taking years and possibly centuries after the death of a candidate as described in this article;
"After someone with a reputation for exceptional holiness dies, a bishop can open an investigation into their life. At this stage, the person can be granted the title “Servant of God.” Further details and research are needed for them to be recognized as “Venerable,” the next stage in canonization.
The following step is beatification, when someone is declared “Blessed.” This usually requires that the Vatican confirm that the person performed a “miracle” by interceding with God. Two miracles are required before a “Blessed” can be declared a saint."
A miracle, as defined by the Catholic church, requires a divine event with no natural or scientific explanation, and is usually what takes the longest in the canonization process, as the miracle must be confirmed. This process can take many years, and requires the input of witnesses, medical professionals, religious leaders, and many others depending on the circumstances. To be a saint, one must have performed a miracle either by performing it themself or by being the prayed to and then the miracle occurs. In both cases there is room for deception, but there remain genuine unknown cases of miraculous healing. These happenings are consistent with a catholic view of miracles, and there is no purpose in not delegating them as so without other knowledge.
The most recent candidate for sainthood, Pope John Paul 1, was only Pope for only 34 days before his death in 1978. However, years after his death, a prayer to him was answered.
Pope John Paul I’s beatification was greenlighted by the sudden healing of an 11-year-old girl in Buenos Aires who had been suffering severe acute brain inflammation, severe epilepsy and septic shock. She had been approaching what doctors considered almost-certain death in 2011 when her mother, nursing staff and a priest began praying desperately to the former pope."
In this case, 30 years after death, there is little chance of a deliberate hoax in order for John Paul to gain sainthood. However, praying to a human being seems to be contradictory to the nature of Christianity, as it stresses one God above humanity. Possibly sainthood really serves to appreciate past Christian leaders who gave everything they could to their faith, while others would say it serves to elevate leaders to a position of divine importance. In either case, until all miracles are proven to be natural, I believe that divine intervention facilitated by a great faithful person is as good a reason as any.
When this article began, I thought you were going to talk about an individual elevating themselves above God to vie for sainthood, which seemed strange to me because, as you note here, this process begins after one's death. Now I see the article is more of a discussion of the tradition of sainthood elevating humanity (as opposed to an individual) to at least the level of God by way of miracles, which is an interesting conflict. I think you end up in a place that's more about attribution than anything: is it the human performing the miracle, or is the person a vessel of God performing the miracle? It might just be a small distinction in how Catholics speak about…