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Mary & the SaintsIntermediate

Should Catholics venerate saints canonized by Eastern Orthodox churches?

Mary & the Saints

The short answer

Catholics may admire their witness and learn from apparently holy people of other traditions, but should not give them the public honor reserved to saints canonized by the Catholic Church. Papal canonization infallibly declares a person in heaven; we have no such certainty about those "canonized" elsewhere.

Catholics may admire the Christian witness of those the Orthodox churches recognize as saints, and may learn from the lives and writings of apparently holy people in other Christian traditions.

But it is not advisable to give them the honor Catholics give to saints recognized by the Catholic Church. Canonization by the pope is an infallible statement that a person is certainly in heaven and so worthy of public honor. While we hope for the salvation of non-Catholics, we have no such certain knowledge that those "canonized" by non-Catholic churches are in heaven.