The Vatican announced on Oct. 25, 2016 the new rules on cremation among Catholics. According to the new guidelines from the doctrinal office of the Vatican, cremation should no longer involve scattering the ashes or keeping the cremains in urns.
CNN revealed that for many years, the Vatican allowed the practice of cremation, although the church was apparently concerned about how it could lead to erroneous ideas about death. According to the Vatican, cremation may lead some to believe that the human body fuses with nature or goes on another cycle of rebirth after death.
The new guidelines were intended to curtail the approach of turning the remains of the departed into souvenirs, instead of focusing on the spiritual aspect. Now, the remains after cremation must be kept in a sacred place, and not at home or divided among family members.
Cremains should be placed in a church cemetery, and should not be preserved in mementos and other objects. In 1963, the Vatican stated that it is preferred to have the bodies of the deceased buried, although Catholics are still given the option to be cremated. The Catholic Church now stated that if cremation is chosen for the reason of nihilism, naturalism or pantheism, the deceased should not be given a Catholic burial.
The new Vatican guidelines on cremation also deem the approach of commercializing the act as sacrilegious. Catholicism teaches that all people will be resurrected, both body and soul. Burial shows the intention to show the great dignity of the human body and is the best way to present esteem for the dead.
The Vatican, however, understands that there are economic, social and sanitary reasons to opt for cremation, which they will allow. With the new rules, cremains may only be kept at home upon special permission granted by a bishop.
Yahoo stated that the new cremation is dated Aug. 15, 2016, with Pope Francis approving it on March 18. Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the author of the text, said that the dead body is not the private property of relatives, but of God, so Catholics have to change their way of thinking with the new cremation rules.