Can a person be canonized when they are not saints? What would happen?

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Not sure if I have the right forum here, but there’s a random question that has been bugging me.

What if a person is outwardly amazingly holy, but inwardly amazingly average. Or even evil. Then this person dies and - after whatever kind of investigation they do (Satan could produce the miracles) - is canonized. (But in reality they are in purgatory or hell). Do they go straight to heaven? Surely yes because the pope can bind and loose, right?
 
They are thoroughly investigated, not one word can be against church doctrine.

Even if all their words are on a Catholic Internet forum
 
Gorgias said:
I think you’re asking the question “can a pope overrule Jesus in the decision of a person’s particular judgment?”.

The answer is no .
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No. What I am asking is if the pope was ignorant of a person’s evil actions and officially canonized him or her, what would happen to the person’s soul.
Even if all their words are on a Catholic Internet forum
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@Roseeurekacross Who do you think I am talking about 🤔. It was a completely hypothetical question. Not aimed at anyone in particular.
 
I am just saying, for example, hmm Trishie of this forum, an Australian lady who is always kind gentle prays, and might then become a Saint. The Magisterium would investigate all her writings, including modern forums. IF Trishie as a possible saint, professed some heresy or proposed one,or spewed forth anti catholic, anti Magisterium etc rhetoric, she would not be declared a saint.

So a person would be uncovered as not saint material before the ceremony
 
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The question is basically, is the process of canonization protected by papal infallibility?

I would say, no.
 
Saying something once that was heretical does not exclude someone from sainthood. Take St Augustine for example. I am pretty sure that beliefs, actions and such at the time of death are the major influencer.
 
Another way of looking at it, if the pope could overrule Jesus’ judgement, then surely he could save all souls by canonizing everybody who ever lived.

Obviously that is absurd.
 
Canonization is just a process by which we acknowledge a reality in Heaven. If Fred is a holy person, and dies, and is eventually canonized, that doesn’t make a bit of difference to Fred— he’s already in Heaven, and the fact that people on earth know about it doesn’t matter. Just like if someone’s kid is a good speller, and wins the Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee, and the newspaper reports on it— that’s nice, but it doesn’t make the person any better or worse of a speller, and the championship win already existed even if no one in the world chose to report on it.

You’ll remember that a lot of the “traditional” saints were stricken from the liturgical calendar, because the Church wasn’t positive about their historicity. For example, St. Christopher, St. Ursula, St. Philomena, and St. Barbara. The only reason St. Catherine stayed was because St. Joan of Arc vouched for her.

So, if St. Christopher and St. Philomena have exited the church calendar-- and with so many very holy people with their causes on pause, or working their way through the system very, very, very, very slowly-- I’d be surprised if, say, an Internet Holy Person Who’s Not Actually In Heaven fast-tracked through the process.
 
It’s arguable that canonization, as it is done now, is an infallible act of the Pope. It is a binding official pronouncement on a matter of faith and morsls after all.

In which case, as with other infallible pronouncements, presumably the Holy Spirit would prevent the Pope from making a mistake.
 
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It is once you become catholic and start writing and acting. It’s all thoroughly examined.
 
MockSock said:
Satan could produce the miracles
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Let’s begin here. Satan cannot produce miracles.

Miracles are not always required for Canonization.

The Church’s investigation is far more complex than many realize.

I’d suggest you read a book called “Making Saints”.
 
Arguably being canonized does make a difference to a person in heaven.

If suddenly lots of people start praying and asking for your intercession, I guess that does make a big difference to you.

Seeing we don’t really know very much about heaven or about what sould do there all day, we don’t really know how much of a change or extra workload that is.
 
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midori said:
You’ll remember that a lot of the “traditional” saints were stricken from the liturgical calendar, because the Church wasn’t positive about their historicity. For example, St. Christopher, St. Ursula, St. Philomena, and St. Barbara.
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In the case of these “traditional” saints, there was presumably no record of a canonization procedure. I think we shall learn the definitive answer to the OP’s question only when a formally canonized saint is subsequently
de-canonized — which I suspect is unlikely to happen, ever.
 
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Not on purgatory itself, but surely it would have an affect on a soul in purgatory.

A pope who canonized a holy soul inadvertently, would bind on earth that the person was a saint and so it would be bound also in heaven.

As others have said, it is a question of papal infallibility.
 
MockSock said:
What I am asking is if the pope was ignorant of a person’s evil actions and officially canonized him or her, what would happen to the person’s soul.
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That’s what I answered. The answer is no, we cannot trump God’s judgment.

However, in order to assert that a pope has issued a canonization for someone in hell, you would need to demonstrate that such an occurrence has actually happened, and not simply offer a hypothetical. Can you prove such a case exists?
 
Suppose such a canoninazation did occur, and many people all over the world were to ask the supposed saint for intercession in prayer. What would hapen to those prayers? Would they be wasted? Could they maybe even be a cause of some evil?
 
I don’t know of such a case, no. As I said before, my question was purely hypothetical.
 
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