It’ll be tough standing before God at the end and explain the idolatry here. Scary.From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2112 The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see." These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them." God, however, is the "living God" who gives life and intervenes in history. --Link
2132 The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. --Link
Let me see... I have a Bible (God’s Word) in one hand, and a catechism in the other hand. Hmmmm... which one trumps the other?
I can sort-of “get it” when it comes to “respectful veneration”. But why waste your time when it could be better spent studying God’s Word and praying directly to Him?
A Catholic dictionary defines “venerate” as “to honor, admire, and regard with respect.” No mention of praying. Praying through anyone, dead or alive, is idolatry and blasphemy.