Well I would think after years as A Priest and under the authority of the Pope He certainly would now the truth or falsehood of how the church views Mary and the Saints.... further you may not pray to them but I assure you there are many who do so. Besides enough threads have pointed to the truth there is only ONE mediator between God and man and that is Christ Jesus. End of that story.
***...further you may not pray to them but I assure you there are many who do so.***
Many of us say, “I prayed to St. Anne,” or whoever, when we mean we invoked that person’s help to pray to Jesus for us. Many others misunderstand our meaning. We know only God can be adored, and only He can answer prayers.