The local Roman church honours all the canonized saints who were Popes dedicating the feast of “Santi Pontefici Romani,” on 7 July.
According to Vatican News, “The feast brings together the memory of all of the [beatified and canonized] Roman Pontiffs: 82 saints and 9 blessed (to date in 2022). With this feast, celebrated in St. Peter’s, we want to celebrate Peter’s mission which continues in all his successors, some of whom have heroically witnessed the mandate to confirm the brothers, deserving to be registered in the register of saints and proposed to the veneration of the Christian people.”
Interestingly, of these 82 saints, only eight have been canonized since the 11th century. Regarding that number, we should remember that during the Church’s first 1,000 years, there was very little formal process in place for the canonization of a saint.
After the first millennium, the Church began to develop an orderly process for determining the qualifications of those presented for sainthood. On 4 July 973, Pope Benedict VI canonized Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg. St. Ulrich thus became the first person canonized by a pope.