Courtney McGrailStaff Reporter
The Catholic Church prefers that Catholics are buried rather than cremated, according to a major new Vatican document.
The instruction – which Pope Francis ordered to be published this week – also says that where Catholics are cremated, the ashes are to be kept in “sacred places”, not at home, divided among family members or scattered to the wind.
A two-page instruction issuing new rules on cremation also said that there were even some cases where a Christian funeral could be denied to those who request that ashes be scattered.
Conservation
“The conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence is not permitted,” the instruction from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said, except in “grave and exceptional cases” to be decided by the local bishop.
For centuries, the Church prohibited cremation because it clashed with teachings about the resurrection of the body in the Last Judgment at the end of the world.
It started allowing cremation in 1963 but has never encouraged the practice.
“The Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places,” because it showed the dignity and respect for the human body, said the document.
If cremation is chosen, “the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area which has been set aside for this purpose,” it said.