Pope Francis said the Ulmas “represented a ray of light in the darkness” of World War II and should be a model for everyone in “doing good and in the service of those in need.”
be·at·i·fi·ca·tion
/bēˌadəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: beatification
(in the Roman Catholic Church) declaration by the Pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss, constituting a first step toward canonization and permitting public veneration.
A quick primer on Saints: from the 10 Commandments...
You shall have no other gods before Me
You shall not make idols
[...]
...but having over 10,000 Saints, whom people buy figures and pictures of, then pray to them "to intercede for them before the one and only true God", is fine.
The number has increased by something like 2,000 new ones in just the last couple decades. Nowadays there are Saints for everything, like:
Patron Saint of the Internet: St. Isidore of Seville, named by Pope John Paul II. St. Isidore was bishop of Seville in 600 AD
Patron Saint of the Internet: Carlo Acutis, named by Pope Francis. Was an Italian schoolboy who helped spread Roman Catholic teaching online before he died of leukemia in 2006
Yes, there are duplicates, so people can pick their favorite. And yes, there are all sorts of collectibles.