Is Cremation Allowed in the Catholic Church?
While the Church encourages burial of the body, after the manner of Christ’s own burial, out of respect for the human body and belief in the resurrection, cremation may be chosen for a sufficient reason, such as: Hygienic or other reasons of a public nature. Transfer of the remains to/from a distant place. Avoidance of considerable expense. It was the specific choice of the individual before death or the family after death. When cremation is designated, the funeral rites are conducted in the usual way with the body present and cremation taking place after the celebration of the Funeral Mass at the church. In unusual circumstances when the bodily remains are cremated before the Funeral Mass, we still celebrate the Mass with the cremated remains present in the church and with the appropriate ritual adaptations. The cremated remains are always buried or interred. They are not buried on private land but in consecrated ground in a cemetery. In the case of military burials, the urn may be bu
