I wish that when reporting such things, the press would get it right: it’s not that Fr. Damien will become a saint soon, it’s that the Latin church will officially notice that he was and is one (called canonization by the Latins, though us Orthodox call it “proclaiming the glorification” of the saint—who is already glorified by the Holy Spirit, which is why he or she is a saint).
Very true. The Church does not more than formally and officially recognize the “saintly” nature of the individual who is already with Him in paradise.