Many individuals inquire at our office if the cremated body must be interred or entombed. The simple answer is "yes". The Church teaches that cremated remains should be treated with the same respect given to the corporal remains of a human body. This includes the manner in which they are carried, the care and attention to appropriate placement and transport, and their final disposition. Respectful final disposition of the cremated body involves interment or entombment in a mausoleum , columbarium or a natural grave in a cemetery. The attitude we are to hold in the practice of cremation places high priority on the long tradition of keeping the memory of our dead in a Catholic Cemetery. Our belief is that we will be raised up with Christ on the last day. The interment of the cremated bodies of our departed loved ones in a Catholic Cemetery is a constant reminder of "the sure hope of the resurrection".
Originally Forbidden
Some Catholics today still believe that the Roman Catholic Church forbids cremation. This was true for a variety of reasons prior to the second Vatican Council. The Judaic roots of Christian tradition carried a long-standing prohibition of cremation as a reaction to equally long-standing attempts to annihilate Jewish existence and memory. Although cremation was a common practice among Greeks and Romans, at least for the very poor, Christians moved away from the practice out of faith in the Resurrection of the body, reverence for the body as a member of the Body of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit and a strong reaction to persecutors' use of burning bodies as a taunt against belief in the Resurrection. The practice of the early Church came to be crystallized in the 1917 Code of Canon Law which strictly forbade cremation except when serious public necessity required rapid disposition of bodies, as in times of plague or natural disaster. The Church went so far as to deny Christian burial rites to anyone choosing cremation.
The reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the mid 1960's touched all areas in the life of the Church, including funeral and burial rites. The first document to be promulgated by Pope Paul VI after the Council began stated: "The rite for the burial of the dead should evidence more clearly the paschal character of Christian death and should correspond more closely to the circumstances and traditions found in various regions." (Sacrosanctum Concilium, #81, December 1963). An instruction of the Holy Office related specifically to cremation modified the Church's position to allow cremation to be requested for any sound reason (Piam et Constantem, May 1963). Only if the request were motivated by denial of Christian dogma, hatred of the Catholic Church or a sectarian spirit, would there be any problem with the Church.
This position has now been codified in the Revised Code of Canon Law: "The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained; but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching." (The Code of Canon Law, 1985, #1176.3)