The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently issued a document to the whole Church entitled “Ad resurgendum cum Christo” regarding the burial of the deceased and the conversation of the ashes in the case of cremation. Allow me to summarize the lengthy document here:

• Christ’s death and resurrection has freed us from sin and gave us access to new life, so just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life (“For I hand 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), therefore;

• Following the most ancient tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places. However, 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, a church or an area set aside for this purpose and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority 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 ex-press faith and hope in the resurrection of the body;

• 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 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;

• Burial of the faithfully departed in cemeteries or other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Church to pray for and remember the dead, while at the same time fostering the veneration of the martyrs and saints;

• In circumstances when cremation is chosen because of the 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;

• In 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, taking particular care to avoid every form of scandal or the appearance of religious indifferentism (knowing that burial of the body is the preferred Church methodology);

• When for legitimate motives, cremation of the body is chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place (cemetery or other sacred place);

• For the reasons given above and herein, the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence is not permitted;

• 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, or economic motives

• 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, Vatican City. The full document may be obtained at USCCB.org