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Guess it depends on who you ask.
Thanks for the info. I'm a little intrigued by the "objective verification" part. I think we could agree that it happens all the time that people are "inexplicably" healed by God, i.e. with no special medicine, etc. Some of these people prayed to a Saint or Saint candidate for help, and some did not. Therefore, how is it objectively determined that the healing was a direct result of the candidate's intercession, when it could just as easily have been a coincidence, i.e. that God had already decided to do a healing with or without the intercession?
That leads me to another question. If it is proper to pray to a candidate Saint for intercession (and some candidates get turned down), then is it also proper to ask for intercession from any who have passed away, such as deceased relatives, etc.? If "Yes", then that would seem to be quite a roll of the dice, depending on where the deceased person actually is according to your beliefs. Do people feel "safe" in praying to John Paul II because everyone assumes he is already in heaven?
Yes, it is proper to ask for anyone's intercession. It is always divine will that acts on the prayer, and it is never automatic -- you cannot order God around, whether directly or through a saint, or even less so through a righteous departed who has not been canonized. In that sense, a prayer for healing is a "roll of the dice" if you will.
Saints are canonized primarily to provide examples to us. Our conversation with them is always a conversation with God, who alone answers our prayer, and often in a way we did not expect (see, for example, my previous post on suffering).
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Guess it depends on who you ask.