Joachin Meisner Hertz
(ZENIT News / Jasna Góra, 11.23.2023).- In the recent 396th plenary session, Polish bishops discussed the evolution of the document regarding the funeral rite related to burial in an urn (ashes). The Commission for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, led by Bishop Piotr Greger, presented the next stage of work during the plenary session, marking a milestone in the regulation of Christian funerals involving urns.
A few years ago, the Polish bishops took the initiative to address the issue of liturgical texts for funerals with urns. This arose because liturgical books revised after the Second Vatican Council only contained formulas related to rites for coffins with bodies. The first version of the document describing the rituals of a Christian funeral with an urn was submitted to the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for approval, but the need for supplements was noted.
Bishop Greger explained that the additions focused on three fundamental issues. The first addresses the existing practice when the urn is in the church and then taken to the cemetery. Consideration was given to how to perform complete rituals, even with a first station at home. The second addition involves separating from the block of readings for the Mass those suitable for the urn ritual.
The third addition is particularly relevant in cases of the cremation of a priest or bishop. Faced with the question of how to mark the identity of the deceased when there is only an urn, it was left to the discretion of each case. However, it was decided, after discussion, that the urn would be incensed, arguing that this resembles the use of incense for relics, which is a mandatory practice.
These additions were approved by the full assembly of bishops and sent to the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for final review and approval.
It is important to note that these regulations align with the 2016 Instruction «Ad resurgendum cum Christo,» issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This instruction emphasizes that although the preferred form of burial is traditional, the Church sees no doctrinal reasons to prohibit cremation. It is stressed that cremation does not affect the soul or prevent the resurrection of the body, not contradicting the Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body.
