The Vatican on Tuesday published guidelines for Catholics who want to be cremated, saying their remains cannot be scattered, divvied up or kept at home but rather stored in a sacred, church-approved place.

The new instructions were released just in time for Halloween, and All Souls Day on Nov. 2, when the faithful are supposed to pray for and remember the dead.

For most of its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church only permitted burial, arguing that it best expressed the Christian hope in resurrection. But in 1963, the Vatican explicitly allowed cremation as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection.

The new document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith repeats that burial remains preferred but lays out guidelines for conserving ashes for the increasing numbers of Catholics who choose cremation.

It said it was doing so to counter what it called "new ideas contrary to the church's faith" that had emerged since 1963, including New Age-y ideas that death is a "fusion" with Mother Nature and the universe, or the "definitive liberation" from the prison of the body.

To set the faithful straight, the Vatican said ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home, since that would deprive the Christian community as a whole from remembering the dead. Rather, church authorities should designate a sacred place, such as a cemetery or church area, to hold them.

Only in extraordinary cases can a bishop allow ashes to be kept at home, it said.

The document said remains cannot be divided among family members or put in lockets or other mementoes. Nor can the ashes be scattered in the air, land or sea since doing so would give the appearance of "pantheism, naturalism or nihilism," the guidelines said.

It repeated church teaching that Catholics who choose to be cremated for reasons contrary to the Christian faith must be denied a Christian funeral.

The new instruction carries an Aug. 15 date and says Pope Francis approved it March 18. It wasn't clear if the guidelines were retroactive or what Catholics should do if they have disposed of their loved ones in ways now deemed improper. </s> The Vatican on Tuesday published guidelines for Catholics who want to be cremated, saying their remains cannot be scattered, divvied up or kept at home but rather stored in a sacred, church-approved place.

The new instructions were released just in time for Halloween and "All Souls Day" on Nov. 2, when the faithful are supposed to pray for and remember the dead.

For most of its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church only permitted burial, arguing that it best expressed the Christian hope in resurrection. But in 1963, the Vatican explicitly allowed cremation as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection.

The new document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith repeats that burial remains preferred, with officials calling cremation a "brutal destruction" of the body. But it lays out guidelines for conserving ashes for the increasing numbers of Catholics who choose cremation for economic, ecological or other reasons.

It said it was doing so to counter what it called "new ideas contrary to the church's faith" that had emerged since 1963, including New Age-y ideas that death is a "fusion" with Mother Nature and the universe, or the "definitive liberation" from the prison of the body.

To set the faithful straight, the Vatican said ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home, since that would deprive the Christian community as a whole of remembering the dead. Rather, church authorities should designate a sacred place, such as a cemetery or church area, to hold them.

Only in extraordinary cases can a bishop allow ashes to be kept at home, it said. Vatican officials declined to say what circumstances would qualify, but presumably countries where Catholics are a persecuted minority and where Catholic churches and cemeteries have been ransacked would qualify.

The document said remains cannot be divided among family members or put in lockets or other mementos. Nor can the ashes be scattered in the air, land or sea since doing so would give the appearance of "pantheism, naturalism or nihilism," the guidelines said.

It repeated church teaching that Catholics who choose to be cremated for reasons contrary to the Christian faith must be denied a Christian funeral.

The new instruction carries an Aug. 15 date and says Pope Francis approved it March 18.

The author of the text, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, was asked at a Vatican briefing if Francis had any reservations about the text, particularly the refusal to let family members keep remains of their loved ones at home.

"The dead body isn't the private property of relatives, but rather a son of God who is part of the people of God," Mueller said. "We have to get over this individualistic thinking."

While the new instruction insists that remains be kept together, Vatican officials said they are not about to go gather up the various body parts of saints that are scattered in churches around the world. The practice of divvying up saints' bodies for veneration — a hand here, a thigh bone there — was a fad centuries ago but is no longer in favor.

"Going to all the countries that have a hand of someone would start a war among the faithful," reasoned Monsignor Angel Rodriguez Luno, a Vatican theological adviser. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption A worker collects ashes after cremation. File photo

The ashes of cremated Catholics cannot be kept at home, scattered or divided among family members, the Vatican has announced in new guidelines.

The two-page instruction by the Vatican's department on doctrine said ashes of the dead must be kept in "sacred places" such as cemeteries.

It also stressed that the Roman Catholic Church still preferred burials over cremations.

The Vatican allowed cremation in 1963 but has always frowned on the practice.

It also stressed at the time that cremation must not suggest a denial of faith about resurrection.

Countering 'new ideas'

"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," said the instruction by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

"These courses of action cannot be legitimised by an appeal to the sanitary, social, or economic motives that may have occasioned the choice of cremation."

The Vatican said it was issuing the new guidelines to counter "new ideas contrary to the Church's faith" that had become widespread since 1963.

It said the Church could not "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".

The guidelines reiterated that Catholics who chose to be cremated "for reasons contrary to the Christian faith" must be denied a Christian funeral.

The Vatican also stressed that "the Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased".

Pope Francis had already approved the guidelines, the Vatican said.

Shortage of burial land fears - BBC's Religious Affairs correspondent Martin Bashir

Fearing the impact of naturalistic ideas about the circle of life, where the body is regarded as no different to other physical matter, the Vatican has decided to clarify its position on what should happen to the remains of the dead.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the head of the Church's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said ashes of those cremated should be committed to a cemetery or another consecrated place.

But Britain and some other western countries face a shortage of land in which to bury bodies.

There are concerns this announcement will not only place financial burdens on Catholic families but also increase the pressure on cemeteries, half of which are expected to run out of space within the next 20 years. </s> New Vatican guidelines will change the way Catholics treat the cremated remains of loved ones, with Catholic leaders now saying that scattering them in a favorite, meaningful spot deprives the Christian community as a whole of remembering the dead.

Released on Tuesday, the Vatican’s new guidelines for Catholic practitioners wishing to be cremated state the remains “cannot be scattered, divvied up or kept at home, but rather stored in a sacred, church-approved place.”

Pope Francis approved the new measure on March 18.

Scranton diocese cemeteries offer services for the appropriate and respectful treatment of cremated remains, said spokesman William Genello. The new guidelines “reaffirm the Church’s belief in the sacredness of the human body and the resurrection of the dead,” he said.

Cremated remains are to be entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium or buried in a common grave in a cemetery, said Mr. Genello, who added if possible the deceased should be memorialized with a plaque or stone that includes their name.

The burial or entombment of a body in the Catholic faith is done in imitation of the burial of Jesus’s body, he said.

In extraordinary cases, however, a bishop can allow ashes to be kept at home. Vatican officials declined to say what circumstances would qualify, but presumably countries where Catholics are a persecuted minority and where Catholic churches and cemeteries have been ransacked would qualify.

For most of the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history, cremation was not allowed. The Vatican lifted its ban in 1963.

The Vatican released the new instructions ahead of All Souls Day on Nov. 2, when the faithful are supposed to honor the dead. </s> The Vatican has said that Catholics who want to be cremated cannot have their ashes scattered or kept at home.

Rather, the deceased’s ashes are to be stored in a “sacred place” such as a cemetery or a church.

Tuesday morning’s ruling came from German Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine Of The Faith (CDF), the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog.

Speaking at a Vatican news conference, Cardinal Muller said that in recent decades there had been a huge increase in many countries, both in the practise of cremation rather than burial, and in the “domestic” conservation of the ashes of the deceased.

“We come from the earth and we shall return to the earth,” Cardinal Muller said, confirming the church’s preferernce for burials.

“The church continues to incessantly recommend that the bodies of the dead be buried either in cemeteries or in other sacred ground.

“In memory of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, burial is the most appropriate way to express our faith and hope in bodily resurrection,” he said.

Cardinal Muller did however acknowledge that cremation is nonetheless “not prohibited” by the Catholic Church.

For most of its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church only permitted burial, arguing that this best expressed the Christian hope in resurrection.

In 1963, however, the Vatican allowed cremation as long as it did not suggest a denial of faith about resurrection.

Tuesday’s ruling has reiterated that teaching but has issued new guidelines for the conservation and treatment of the ashes of the dead.

Having consulted with the relevant Vatican congregations as well as with bishops’ conferences all around the world, the CDF concluded that the ashes of loved ones must be kept “in a holy place, that is a cemetery or a church or in a place that has been specifically dedicated to this purpose”.

“The conservation of ashes in the home is not allowed. Furthermore, in order to avoid any form of pantheistic or naturalistic or nihilistic misunderstanding, the dispersion of ashes in the air, on the ground, on water or in some other way as well as the conversion of cremated ashes into commemorative objects is not allowed,” Cardinal Muller said.

Speaking at the news conference, Msgr Angel Rodriquez Luna, a “consultor” with the CDF said that while some people might argue that the choice to preserve a loved one’s ashes comes from wishing to remain close to them in memory and prayer, “it must be observed that the deceased faithful form part of the church, they are the object of prayer and of the memory of the living and it is only right that their remains be received by the church and looked after with respect.” </s> Sir, – The recent Vatican’s directive, Ad resurgendum cum Christo, issued by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, concludes with the words “in order that any appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the cremated in the air, on land at sea or in some other way as preserved in mementos,pieces of jewellery or other objects”. (“Cremation ashes must not be scattered or kept at home,” October 26th)

While the document says that it was presented to Pope Francis last March for his approval this directive is an effort by the more conservative forces within the Vatican, led by the head of this Doctrinal Congregation Cardinal Mueller, to return the Catholic Church to an era when Catholics were ruled by laws, directives and minutiae that clouded the essential message of Jesus .

While the directive claims that it is upholding the dignity of the “human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity” it opens that positive message to ridicule by forbidding the faithful to honour their dead relatives in a Christian manner honouring and befitting them.

The Catholic faithful should continue to exercise their own discretion in the disposal of the cremated remains of their loved ones and consign this new directive to the annals of history.– Yours, etc,

Sir, – I can’t be the only Catholic who despairs at the ineptitude of some Vatican bureaucrats. They seem to be obsessed with rearranging deck chairs or modifying the rules of quoits.

For instance, whoever decided to modify the English vernacular mass could hardly have had English as his first language. Charitable critics might allude to ivory towers, less charitable to whited sepulchers. (Apologies for the montage of metaphors.) – Yours, etc, </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Loved ones are given the soil to keep

Washington has become the first state in the US to legalise human composting.

Under the new law, people there can now choose to have their body turned into soil after their death.

The process is seen as an alternative to cremations and burials, and as a practical option in cities where land for graveyards is scarce.

At the end of the composting, loved ones are given the soil, which they can use in planting flowers, vegetables or trees.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday.

Katrina Spade, who lobbied for the law to be introduced, founded a company that could be the first to provide the service.

"Recomposition offers an alternative to embalming and burial or cremation that is natural, safe, sustainable, and will result in significant savings in carbon emissions and land usage," Ms Spade told Agence France-Presse.

How does it work?

Ms Spade says the process for her company, Recompose, places a body in a hexagonal steel container filled with alfalfa, wood chips and straw.

The container is then shut, and the body decomposes naturally within 30 days, creating two wheelbarrows' worth of soil.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Human composting is seen as an eco-friendly alternative to burials and cremations

Environmentally friendly burial alternatives are becoming increasingly popular.

Earlier this month it was revealed that late actor Luke Perry was laid to rest in a "mushroom suit" in California.

The suit's creator, Jae Rhim Lee, says that it reduces the amount of toxic pollutants that are released into the environment during the body's decomposition and cremation.

The process of human composting is already legal in Sweden, while natural burials - where the body is buried without a casket or with a biodegradable coffin - are legal in the UK. </s> Urban cemeteries are filling up. Cremation releases greenhouse gases. Now, Washington has legalized a third option: human composting.

Legislation allowing the practice of “aboveground decomposition” to begin next May was signed into law on Tuesday by Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, making the state the first place in the nation — and probably the world, legal experts said — to explicitly allow human remains to become compost.

The bill will allow bodies to be placed in a receptacle with organic material like wood chips to help speed up the natural transition to soil.

After several weeks, families will be allowed to keep the soil to spread, just as they save the cremated ashes of their loved ones. </s> A mass grave containing the remains of babies and children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland where it has been alleged up to 800 died, government-appointed investigators said on Friday.

Excavations at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, have uncovered an underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains”, the judge-led mother and baby homes commission said. 



The commission said DNA analysis of selected remains revealed ages of the deceased ranged from 35 weeks to three years old. It found that the dead had been mostly buried in the 1950s, when the facility was one of more than a dozen in Ireland offering shelter to orphans, unwed mothers and their children. The Tuam home closed in 1961.

The home, run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order of nuns, received unmarried pregnant women to give birth. The women were separated from their children, who remained separately in the home, raised by nuns, until they could be adopted.

The discovery confirms decades of suspicions that the vast majority of children who died at the home were interred on the site in unmarked graves, a common practice at such Catholic-run facilities amid high child mortality rates in early 20th-century Ireland.



The government in 2014 formed the commission following the work of a local Tuam historian, Catherine Corless, who found death certificates for nearly 800 children who were residents at the facility but burial records for only two.



“Everything pointed to this area being a mass grave,” Corless previously told the Guardian, who recalled how boys playing in the field had reported seeing a pile of bones in a hidden underground chamber there in the mid-1970s.

The government’s commissioner for children, Katherine Zappone, said the findings were “sad and disturbing” and pledged that the children’s families would be consulted on providing proper burials and other memorials.

“We will honour their memory and make sure that we take the right actions now to treat their remains appropriately,” Zappone said.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, Corless requested Galway county council’s records on St Mary’s from 1925 to 1961. She was refused.

But she was given documents from the 1970s, including an official map of the present day estate the council built on the site.

“They obviously didn’t see the importance,” said Corless. “There is an area across the map marked ‘Burial Ground’,” she says. “First, the houses were built, around that area. Finally a playground was built on part of the burial ground itself.”

Minutes from a Tuam council meeting call for “due care and sensitivity” when building the playground because of the “children’s burial ground and adjoining burial ground,” Corless said. “The playground is unnaturally big, it’s as big as the town playground.”
The Catholic Church announces that cremated remains must be kept in consecrated land, rather than scattered about or kept at home. The Church first permitted cremation in 1963, but still strongly favours burial.