The Catholic defense that "We're not really worshipping the statue or the saint, but the God behind the saint" is irrelevant. When Israel sinned by making the golden calf, it didn't matter that they were still worshipping the God who had led them out of Egypt (in Exo. 32:4-55, after making the calf, Aaron says, "These are your gods (Heb. Eloheyk, lit. 'Here is your God,' as the term "God" is nearly a plural Hebrew word when speaking of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt . . . Tomorrow is a feast to YHVH," thus proving that the idolatry was meant to honor God. The difference is that they worshipped the golden calf and sacrificed to it and said "this is your God". The Catholic Church explicitly prohibits prayer to or worship of images.