Deify
DEIFY, verb transitive [Latin A god, and to make.]
1. To make a god; to exalt to the rank of a heathen deity; to enroll among the deities; as, Julius Cesar was deified.
2. To exalt into an object of worship; to treat as an object of supreme regard; as a covetous man deifies his treasures.
3. To exalt to a deity in estimation; to reverence or praise as a deity.
The pope was formerly extolled and deified by his votaries.