Vatican issues new document on Christian burial and
cremation
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith on Tuesday published a new instruction on the burial of the dead and on
the conservation of the ashes in cases of cremation.
The instruction reiterates the long held view that the Church is
not opposed to the practice of cremation, though it continues to recommend that
the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places.
However the new document insists that ashes should not be kept in
private houses and that the scattering of ashes on land or at sea is not
permitted.
Please see below the full English text of the new instruction from
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo regarding
the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of
cremation
1. To rise with
Christ, we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home
with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). With the Instruction Piam et Constantem of 5 July
1963, the then Holy Office established that “all necessary measures must be
taken to preserve the practice of reverently burying the faithful departed”,
adding however that cremation is not “opposed per se to the Christian religion”
and that no longer should the sacraments and funeral rites be denied to those
who have asked that they be cremated, under the condition that this choice has
not been made through “a denial of Christian dogmas, the animosity of a secret
society, or hatred of the Catholic religion and the Church”. Later this
change in ecclesiastical discipline was incorporated into the Code of Canon Law
(1983) and the Code of Canons of Oriental Churches (1990).
During the intervening years, the practice of cremation has notably increased
in many countries, but simultaneously new ideas contrary to the Church’s faith
have also become widespread. Having consulted the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for
Legislative Texts and numerous Episcopal Conferences and Synods of Bishops of the
Oriental Churches, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has deemed
opportune the publication of a new Instruction, with the intention of
underlining the doctrinal and pastoral reasons for the preference of the burial
of the remains of the faithful and to set out norms pertaining to the
conservation of ashes in the case of cremation.
2. The
resurrection of Jesus is the culminating truth of the Christian faith, preached
as an essential part of the Paschal Mystery from the very beginnings of
Christianity: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also
received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that
he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve” (1 Cor 15:3-5).
Through his death and resurrection, Christ freed us from sin and
gave us access to a new life, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rm 6:4).
Furthermore, the risen Christ is the principle and source of our future
resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those
who have fallen asleep […] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all
be made alive” (1 Cor 15:20-22).
It is true that Christ will raise us up on the last day; but it is
also true that, in a certain way, we have already risen with Christ. In
Baptism, actually, we are immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ and
sacramentally assimilated to him: “You were buried with him in baptism, in
which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who
raised him from the dead” (Col 2:12). United with Christ by Baptism, we already
truly participate in the life of the risen Christ (cf. Eph 2:6).
Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning. The
Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the
Church: “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when
this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them
in heaven”. By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the
resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by
reunion with our soul. In our own day also, the Church is called to proclaim
her faith in the resurrection: “The confidence of Christians is the
resurrection of the dead; believing this we live”.
3. Following the
most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the
bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places.
In memory of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, the
mystery that illumines the Christian meaning of death, burial is above
all the most fitting way to express faith and hope in the resurrection of the
body.
The Church who, as Mother, has accompanied the Christian during
his earthly pilgrimage, offers to the Father, in Christ, the child of her
grace, and she commits to the earth, in hope, the seed of the body that will
rise in glory.
By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her
faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great
dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body
forms part of their identity. She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or
permit rites that involve erroneous ideas about death, such as considering
death as the definitive annihilation of the person, or the moment of fusion
with Mother Nature or the universe, or as a stage in the cycle of regeneration,
or as the definitive liberation from the “prison” of the body.
Furthermore, burial in a cemetery or another sacred place
adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the
faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit
and in which “as instruments and vessels the Spirit has carried out so many
good works”.
Tobias, the just, was praised for the merits he acquired in the
sight of God for having buried the dead, and the Church considers the
burial of dead one of the corporal works of mercy.
Finally, the burial of the faithful departed in cemeteries or
other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Christian community
to pray for and remember the dead, while at the same time fostering the veneration
of martyrs and saints.
Through the practice of burying the dead in cemeteries, in
churches or their environs, Christian tradition has upheld the relationship
between the living and the dead and has opposed any tendency to minimize, or
relegate to the purely private sphere, the event of death and the meaning it
has for Christians.
4. In
circumstances when cremation is chosen because of sanitary, economic or social
considerations, this choice must never violate the explicitly-stated or the
reasonably inferable wishes of the deceased faithful. The Church raises no
doctrinal objections to this practice, since cremation of the deceased’s body
does not affect his or her soul, nor does it prevent God, in his omnipotence,
from raising up the deceased body to new life. Thus cremation, in and of
itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s
immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.
The Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies
of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased.
Nevertheless, cremation is not prohibited, “unless it was chosen for reasons
contrary to Christian doctrine”.
In the absence of motives contrary to Christian doctrine, the
Church, after the celebration of the funeral rite, accompanies the choice of
cremation, providing the relevant liturgical and pastoral directives, and
taking particular care to avoid every form of scandal or the appearance of
religious indifferentism.
5. When, for
legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been 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, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority.
From the earliest times, Christians have desired that the faithful departed
become the objects of the Christian community’s prayers and remembrance. Their
tombs have become places of prayer, remembrance and reflection. The faithful
departed remain part of the Church who believes “in the communion of all the
faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being
purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church”.
The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that
they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the
Christian community. It prevents the faithful departed from being forgotten, or
their remains from being shown a lack of respect, which eventuality is
possible, most especially once the immediately subsequent generation has too
passed away. Also it prevents any unfitting or superstitious practices.
6. For the reasons
given above, the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic
residence is not permitted. Only in grave and exceptional cases dependent on
cultural conditions of a localized nature, may the Ordinary, in agreement with
the Episcopal Conference or the Synod of Bishops of the Oriental Churches,
concede permission for the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a
domestic residence. Nonetheless, the ashes may not be divided among various
family members and due respect must be maintained regarding the circumstances
of such a conservation.
7. In order that
every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided, it is not
permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at
sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of
jewelry or other objects. These courses of action cannot be legitimized by an
appeal to the sanitary, social, or economic motives that may have occasioned
the choice of cremation.
8. When the
deceased notoriously has requested cremation and the scattering of their ashes
for reasons contrary to the Christian faith, a Christian funeral must be denied
to that person according to the norms of the law.
The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, in the Audience granted to the undersigned
Cardinal Prefect on 18 March 2016, approved the present Instruction, adopted in
the Ordinary Session of this Congregation on 2 March 2016, and ordered its
publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, 15 August 2016, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Gerhard Card. Müller, Prefect
Luis F. Ladaria, S.I., Titular Archbishop of Thibica, Secretary
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