What is the role of the saints in a church?

In the Catholic Church, saints are examples for Christian living. They are persons in history whose lives exalted the attributes the Church most wishes to promote: charity, dedication, faith, etc. Catholics also believe that the dead are able to pray to God from where they are in the afterlife. Therefor, Catholics will often petition these saints to include them in their prayers. It should be noted that Catholics are not required to pray to saints; they are free to pray only to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit if that is the practice which makes them the most comfortable.

Answer:

In The Bible, all believers are called Saints. If you believe, you are a saint. Therefore the question is actually what role do Christians play.