I’m not Catholic, or religious at all, but I’ve had the same question. They don’t “idolize” the saints. To them praying to a saint or depicting them is more of a conduit to God. They see it the same as asking your neighbor to pray for you/a loved one. They believe saints are messengers delivering their prayers to God.
They pretend not to, but I grew up Catholic and I’ve known people who feel direct, holy connections to sts. Anthony or Jude. It’s one of the things that allowed Catholicism to be so effectively spread: people didn’t have to lose their old gods. Saint Brigid is just a revamp of the Celtic deity Brigid, for example.
Raised Catholic, and basically that’s it. I interpret it kinda somewhere between asking your crush’s friend to tell them you like them, and asking your writer friend to help you write a good love note. Idolatry would be like if you tried to date your writer friend or your crush’s friend, instead of your crush.
I’m not Catholic, or religious at all, but I’ve had the same question. They don’t “idolize” the saints. To them praying to a saint or depicting them is more of a conduit to God. They see it the same as asking your neighbor to pray for you/a loved one. They believe saints are messengers delivering their prayers to God.
They pretend not to, but I grew up Catholic and I’ve known people who feel direct, holy connections to sts. Anthony or Jude. It’s one of the things that allowed Catholicism to be so effectively spread: people didn’t have to lose their old gods. Saint Brigid is just a revamp of the Celtic deity Brigid, for example.
Raised Catholic, and basically that’s it. I interpret it kinda somewhere between asking your crush’s friend to tell them you like them, and asking your writer friend to help you write a good love note. Idolatry would be like if you tried to date your writer friend or your crush’s friend, instead of your crush.