Code of Canon Law: Title IV: The Cult of the Saints, of Sacred Images and of Relics

To foster the sanctification of the people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration of Christs faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ consituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authorentic cultof the other Saints, by whose example the faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.

Only those servants of God may be venerated by public cult who have been numbered by eccesiastical authority among the Saints or the Blessed.