I even stated that the Catholic church is not the only player in naming Saints, but rather the most prolific and again the church most recognized as doing so. While I never claimed to be an expert on Sainthood or the Catholic church, as that is not my religion of faith, is it not the Pope that makes that announcement?
That part is true. After an extensive investigation process conducted by the Catholic Church, the decision to officially honor someone as a saint is made by committee, and then the public announcement and ceremony is done by the Pope himself.
This process works the same way in the Coptic Orthodox Church as well. Their leader doesn't unilaterally decide by himself who is a "saint", but after the church conducts a through investigation and reaches a conclusion, the Coptic Orthodox Pope is the one who makes the announcement and conducts the formal ceremony.
I'm not sure how the process works in other Orthodox churches, or in some protestant churches that name saints, since they don't have a "Pope", per say.
During the first millennia of Christianity, the decision was made by local Christian communities and the public announcement of sainthood done by local bishops, so many saints from that period are obscure or forgotten by history, and were never venerated worldwide. It's one of the reasons its possible to get a definitive list of all the people officially proclaimed as "saints" by Christian churches over the last 2000 years.