Italian church won't object to scattering of ashes, newspaper reports

Published: 2008-01-09

ROME (CNS) -- Although the Catholic Church would prefer that those who die be buried in the ground, cremation is acceptable and, in certain circumstances, the church in Italy will not object to a person's ashes being scattered, reported the daily Catholic newspaper Avvenire. The Italian bishops released their new translation of Catholic funeral rites in November, for the first time adding prayers to be recited at a crematorium and for a funeral celebrated in the presence of the deceased's ashes rather than a body. The texts, Avvenire reported in a series of articles Jan. 9, were relatively unknown until a secular newspaper reported that a priest in northern Italy refused a Catholic funeral for a man who had asked that his ashes be scattered in the mountains. The Diocese of Aosta later issued a statement saying that although the priest had hesitated, in the end there was a Catholic funeral and "church funerals will be celebrated for all the faithful, including those who have chosen the scattering of their ashes as long as the choice was not made for reasons contrary to the Christian faith."

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