Cloud Formation Certificate Creation Delay (CREATE_IN_PROGRESS) - CertificateManager

Are all of the criteria met in the red box at the top of this page? https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-resource-certificatemanager-certificate.html

1. certificate domain is hosted in Amazon Route 53
2. domain resides in your AWS account
3. using DNS validation

If not, the cert request will remain in its current state until you validate the certificate request, either by acting upon the instructions in the validation email, or by adding a CNAME record to your DNS configuration.