I don't believe that's what OP meant. I think that the question was more whether we're required to regard them as saints. It's done often out of shorthand to simply refer to Aquinas, Bellarmine, Augustine, et al.
Okay, I see. I've noticed among "conservative Novus Ordo" types that they incessantly hammer away at "Pope St John Paul II" (or even "Pope St John Paul II
The Great"), "St Mother Teresa", "St Padre Pio", and so on, as if to imply "these modern saints are the most attention-worthy saints" (or something like that). Even among pre-Vatican II canonized saints, I refer to them as "Saint So-and-So", or not, depending upon context and awkwardness. It would take purist pedantry bordering on scrupulosity to refer to "
Saint Joan of Arc Kidney Beans".
