I Know There’s A Dog Saint (thank You CT) But Can Anything, In Theory, Be Granted Sainthood? I Know

I know there’s a dog saint (thank you CT) but can anything, in theory, be granted sainthood? I know that in the case of the dog there was. An unspeakable amount of rage, but could it happen again? Like, in theory, could a horse that were to do something like save the Pope (idk how, maybe by kicking a potential assassin in the head) become a saint? Or something like those bees that preserve icons, say they were to save a painting of Christ from damage from like, smoke rising from a fire, would they be eligible? Or is that just all moot because they’re not humans?

Saint Guinefort is not a saint, they are a folk saint. Canonization of a saint is a rigorously controlled bureaucratic system which works with four tiers of acknowledged holiness in life.

The first step to sainthood is recognition as a Servus Dei, or Servant of God, by at least a bishop but ultimately falls under Papal jurisdiction. Technically speaking, the Pope does hold the power to just skip all the steps and traditions, but it is so rarely done that you can count it happening on one hand in the entirety of the time of the Holy Roman Church as it is resembling any semblance of modernity.

That said: Dog Saint Sunday forever. Folk saints are innately broaching the heretical since it is icon veneration unapproved by the Holy See. Guinefort's village was repeatedly ransacked by inquisitorial forces because they refused to stop venerating St Guinefort. Pretty much the only rule for becoming a folk saint is if enough people consider you a folk saint that it grabs the attention of the Vatican.

If we're taking soundings on who we should make the next dog saints btw, I say we should start venerating Saint Laika of the Firmament, Saint Negro Matapacos of Santiago, and Saint Loukanikos of Athens.