VATICAN ISSUES NEW DOCUMENT ON CHRISTIAN BURIAL AND CREMATION
November 14, 2016
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a new instruction on the burial of the dead and on the conservation of the ashes in cases of cremation.
The instruction repeats the long held view that the Church does not opposed to the practice of cremation, though it recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places.
However, the document requires that ashes should not be kept in private houses and that the scattering of ashes on land or at sea is not permitted.
