The Vatican has issued a new instruction for the process of cremation, since people have apparently been getting it wrong. The Church allows for cremation, but we are not supposed to scatter these ashes, divide them, or keep them in jewelry, which never even dawned on the DC staff as something someone might do…
while the Church prefers the practice of burying, she has “no doctrinal objections” to cremation, because it “negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.” Cremation is not prohibited, it states, unless it was chosen for reasons “contrary to Christian doctrine.” Furthermore, it must be carried out with “relevant liturgical and pastoral directives, and taking care to avoid every form of scandal or the appearance of religious indifferentism.” The document lays down several clear conditions for cremation: The ashes of the faithful must be “laid to rest in a sacred place” such as a cemetery or church, or an area set aside for the purpose; they should not be kept in a domestic residence except in “grave and exceptional cases dependent on cultural conditions of a localized nature”; and they should not be “divided among various family members.” Furthermore, to avoid “every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism,” the document stresses 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 jewellery or other objects.”
All this talk of death and what to do with remains got us thinking ‘THERE’S A POLL HERE!’ So tell us what you think!
And today we celebrate...