(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 12.12.2023).- Translated into English is the response of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, regarding the question on the preservation of the ashes of the deceased. The response of the Dicastery’s Prefect, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, was approved by the Pope in an audience on December 9, 2023.
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In a letter dated October 30, 2023 (Prot. N. 2537), Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, addressed two questions to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, regarding the preservation of the ashes of the deceased subjected to cremation.
In particular, Cardinal Zuppi said he created a Commission in the diocese of Bologna, to give a Christian response to the different problems stemming from the proliferation of the option to incinerate the deceased and scatter their ashes in nature. It is also an attempt to avoid the prevalence of economic reasons, suggested by the lower cost of dispersion, and to give guidance on the fate of the ashes once the period for their preservation has elapsed.
In order to be sure to respond not only to the relatives’ request but also to the Christian announcement of the resurrection of bodies and the respect due to them, the Editor addressed the following questions:
1.Taking into account the canonical prohibition to scatter the ashes of the deceased, — as happens in ossuaries, where the mineralized remains of the deceased are deposited and preserved accumulatively –, is it possible to enable a defined and permanent sacred place, for the accumulation and community preservation of the ashes of the baptized deceased, indicating for each one the personal data so as not to disperse the nominal memory?
2.Can a family be permitted to preserve part of a relative’s ashes in a significant place for the history of the deceased?
After duly studying the content of these questions, the following was decided:
1) No. 5 of the Instruction “Ad Resurgendum cum Christo” — on the burial of the deceased and the preservation of the ashes in the case of cremation, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on August 15, 2016, regarding the preservation of ashes in special urns –, establishes that the ashes must be preserved in a sacred place (cemetery), and also in a space dedicated specifically to that end, as long as it has been designated for that by the ecclesiastical authority.
Pastoral reasons are also given for this normative: “The preservation of the ashes in a sacred place can contribute to reducing the risk of removing the deceased from prayer and the memory of the family members and of the Christian community. It also avoids the possibility of forgetfulness and lack of respect, which can happen especially once the first generation has passed, as well as indecorous or superstitious practices” (n. 5). This norm of the mentioned Instruction retains all its validity.
2) Our faith tells us that we will resurrect with the same corporal identity, which is material, as every creature of this earth, although that material will be transfigured, freed from the limitations of this world. In this connection, the resurrection will be “in this flesh in which we now live” (Formula Fides Damasi Nuncupata). Avoided, thus, is a pernicious dualism between the material and the immaterial.
However, this transformation does not imply the recovery of the identical particles of matter that made up the body of the human being. Therefore, the resurrected body will not be made up necessarily of the same elements it had before dying. As it is not about a simple revivification of the corpse, the resurrection can happen even if the body has been totally destroyed or dispersed. This helps us to understand why in many cineraries the deceased’s ashes are preserved all together, without keeping them in separate places.
3) Moreover, the deceased’s ashes come from material remains that formed part of the historical itinerary lived by the person, to the point that the Church has special care and devotion for the relics of Saints. This care and remembrance leads us also to an attitude of sacred respect to the ashes of the deceased, which we preserve in an appropriate sacred place for prayer and, sometimes, close to churches where family members and neighbours go.
4) Therefore:
A)For the reasons given, it is possible to establish a defined and permanent sacred place for the accumulation and community preservation of the ashes of the baptized deceased, indicating for each one the personal data so as not to disperse the nominal memory.
B)Moreover, as long as any type of pantheistic, naturalistic or nihilist misunderstanding is excluded, and the ashes of the deceased are preserved in a sacred place, the ecclesiastical authority — respecting the current civil regulations –, will be able to consider and assess the request of a family to preserve duly a minimal part of the ashes of its relative in a significant place for the history of the deceased.
Translation of the Italian original by ZENIT’s Editorial Director and, into English, by Virginia M. Forrester
