this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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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.