The Vatican recently published a document explaining how to treat the cremains of the deceased. While headlines may make it appear that people are allowed to retain the cremains of loved ones in one’s home, Monsignor Charles Pope explains why that’s not
The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place, but it also said family members could request "a minimal part of the ashes" be kept
A reader asks: “After cautioning a family member to keep our loved one’s cremains intact, I find it hard to understand why the dismembering of a saint’s body is allowed, especially when body parts are often sent to different locations.” In response,
In recent years, a number of U.S. states have legalized a new way to process human corpses that some have called "dissolving the dead." Its technical name is "alkaline hydrolysis," but it is also known as biocremation, aquamation, green cremation and resomation.
(OSV News) — Two new alternatives to burial and cremation fail to comply with the Catholic Church’s teaching on respect for the bodies of the dead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine said. In a March 23 statement, the