Why was cremation prohibited?
Catholics believe that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and that all of God’s creation is sacred. Just as the body should be treated with respect in life, so should it be treated in death. As Catholics we believe that “in baptism the body was marked with the seal of the Trinity and became the temple of the Holy Spirit,” and as such, “Christians respect and honor the bodies of the dead and the places they rest” (OCF 19). During life our body was baptized into the Lord and His promise of eternal life. From the earliest days of Christianity, cremation was seen as a pagan ritual perceived to be contrary to this and other Catholic teachings, and therefore prohibited by the Catholic Church. Today, cremation is only prohibited if the person choosing cremation is doing so to deny Christian teachings, especially that of the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul.
