1. What is your sentiment on the Vatican's new document on Christian burial and cremation?
We welcome and follow the new
document on Christian burial and cremation because the remains of a deceased
person must be treated properly and with utmost respect based on our
faith.
2. How will the Church deal with those who have
already scattered their relatives' ashes?
When the urn of the person's ashes is placed in a columbarium or tomb, the final resting place is marked with the person's name, the same name with which the person was baptized and by which the person is called by God. An anonymous burial or scattering of ashes is not compatible with the Christian faith. The name, the person, the concrete identity of the person is important because God created each person and calls each person to Himself. His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Müller of the CDF suggests that cremated remains that were already scattered must have a memorial which includes the name of the deceased. He also said that labeling an urn or tomb in a public place is an expression of belief in the communion of saints, the unending unity in Christ of all the baptized, living and dead.
3. Will the Church issue an official decree or law on
the said issue?
Here is the the link of the new
Instruction Ad Resurgendum cum Christo
(To rise with Christ) issued by the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith (CDF):
4. How will the Church in the Philippines promulgate or
inform the faithful of the guidelines?
Since 2001 the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines has already issued a guideline (SEE http://www.oocities.org/barats2000/cremation.html) which was affirmed by the new formal pronouncement of the CDF. It is based on
the 1963 Vatican Instruction. Therefore, the ‘new’ instruction is a
reiteration, an underscoring of the previous document, and has been promulgated
since the 1960s.
5. What are the "approved sacred places"
where families can store the ashes of their loved ones?
The cremated remains should be buried in a
grave, mausoleum, or columbarium. Furthermore, the new document states that
“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.”
According to the new guidelines, burial is
still preferred, but cremation is an option. When a loved one has been
cremated, their ashes must be kept intact, the same as one would treat a body.
The ashes may not be separated or scattered. Instead, they should remain in a
proper vessel that is interred in a proper place, such as a cemetery or church.
Only the bishop can authorize an exception to this storage requirement in
extraordinary circumstances.
6. The Church has previously banned cremation. What
prompted the Church to allow this practice?
The Vatican didn’t allow cremation until
1963, when the Church deemed it permissible as long as it didn’t suggest a
denial of faith about resurrection.
The old
1917 Code of Canon Law expressly prohibited the practice of cremating cadavers
due to the belief from the early days of Christianity that “cremation of
cadavers was considered anti-Christian, while inhumation (or burial in the
earth) was deemed as the normal Christian practice.”
The
reason for this Christian tradition in favor of burial stems from the latter’s
strong religious symbolism, made more evident by its concordance with Sacred
Scripture and its long practice in the Christian community. The paschal meaning
of Christian death—faith in the resurrection of the body: that one day all the
saints will rise from the dead for eternal glory, as Jesus Christ has risen
from the dead—is better expressed with the burial of the cadaver.
7. What prompted the Vatican to release the said
guidelines?
The instruction Ad Resurgendum cum Christo reiterates the Church’s long-held
preference that the dead be buried rather than cremated although it has “no
doctrinal objection” to the latter. Cremation is only forbidden if it is
undertaken for reasons contrary to the Church’s teaching.
The CDF said that there are new age ideas
which have taken hold in modern times. People have come to see scattering of
their ashes as allowing a "fusion" of them with nature, or that death
is a form of liberation from the body. These ideas are new age ideas and are
not Catholic. Ashes cannot be scattered because it gives the appearance of
"pantheism, naturalism, or nihilism."
8. How relevant is the Vatican guidelines in the
Philippine context? Have you received reports on families scattering the ashes
of their loved ones?
We have not received any reports yet
of families scattering the cremated remains of their loved ones. The Vatican
Instruction is very importatnt amid the increasing tendency of Filipinos to
choose cremation over the traditional Christian practice of burying dead bodies.
The Catholic Church earnestly recommends burial but also allows cremation
without any reserve. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states that “The Church
earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be
observed; it does not, however, forbid cremation unless it has been chosen for
reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching” (Can. 1176, §3).