Morality of cremation according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. (Continuation and conclusion of the previous article)

 

For the understanding of this last article on the cremation of the bodies or corpses of the faithful, we will divide it into two parts: 1) Reasons conveniently based on the sacred scriptures and 2) Traditional ecclesiastical discipline.

 1) Reasons of convenience.

 Our reasons of convenience are based on the Holy Scriptures and there are multiple quotes where this crucial topic is touched on today, where ignorance prevails over the arguments of the Church, it is difficult, due to the shortness of the article, to list all the quotes Here, we will only expose some of them.

a) In the book of Genesis we are presented with two quotes: one in which it deals with the creation of man and his subsequent fall, the sentence is implacable from Our Lord: "With the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you vulvas to the EARTH; for from her you were taken. DUST YOU ARE AND TO DUST YOU WILL RETURN (Gen. III, 19). From here arises the hope of the resurrection, which Saint Paul later comments on in his epistles. In Holy Week we are reminded of our condition with the imposition of ashes: "Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris" remember man what dust you are and to dust you will return.

b) When Our Lord Jesus Christ died, He was taken down from the cross, washed, anointed and wrapped in a sheet, then the scripture says: "They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in strips with the aromatic species, according to the way of BURIAL of the Jews... (Jn, XIX. Vers.40 ss.) Whoever wants to interpret this verse of Holy Scripture at their convenience, take into account what Jesus Christ says about people who interpret Scripture in their own way: "And so the whoever violates one of these smallest commandments and teaches men to do so, will be declared the least in the kingdom of heaven…” (S. Mt. 5, 13-199).

c) Death of Saint Stephen. Every good Catholic knows the conditions of his death, which is reported in the Acts or Acts of the Apostles. I refer the reader to chap. VII and VIII, from which I only extract these words: "Some pious men gave Esteban burial and made a great mourning over him."

2) Traditional ecclesiastical discipline.

 Continuing with what was stated in the first part, cremation is a practice under no circumstances accepted by the Catholic Church. In addition to being a practice sponsored by Freemasonry, the enemy of the Church and other sects, which is why the Church goes against not only cremation itself, but also against these sects with three memorable decrees of the Holy Office: 19 May 1886, December 15, 1886, July 27 and 1892.

 a) the decrees of the Holy Office.

 1) The Holy Office, when giving its verdict on this matter, reminds us that these were given by virtue of the enemies of the Church (such as Freemasonry, among others) who promote this practice of cremation out of hatred of the Catholic religion and to inculcate paganism within the Catholic Church. The procedure of the Holy Office is based on questions and answers, here is said procedure:

To the doubts:

 a) Is it lawful to give your name to societies whose purpose is to promote the practice of burning human corpses?

b) Is it lawful to order that one's own corpses or those of others be burned?

It was answered on May 19, 1886:

a) Negatively, and in the case of affiliated companies of the Masonic, the penalties handed down against it are appealed.

b) Negatively. SS Leo XIII confirming this decree, "commanded the ordinary to "seek to timely instruct the faithful of Christ about the detestable abuse of burning human bodies and to separate from it with all their might the flock entrusted to them"

Then on December 15, 1886:

When it comes to those whose body is not burned by their own will, but by someone else's, the rites and suffrages of the Church can be fulfilled now at home, now in the temple, but not in the place of cremation, once the scandal has been removed. However, the scandal may also be removed, making it known, that is, making it known that the cremation was not chosen by the deceased's own will. But if it is about those who of their own free will persevered certain and notoriously until death, in accordance with the decree of the fair IV, May 19, 1886, it is necessary to act with them in accordance with the norms of the Roman Ritual, tit. Quibus non licet dare eccesiastican sepulturam. In cases where doubt or difficulty may arise. The ordinary of the place must be consulted... (Dz. 1863-1864)

b) CODE OF CANON LAW. On this sensitive issue, what does the Code of Canon Law tell us about the cremation of corpses?

“The bodies of the deceased faithful must be buried, their cremation being disapproved.

If someone commands in any way that his body be burned, it is illegal to comply with that will, and if it had been declared in any contract, testament or any other act, it should be considered as not expressed" (C. 1203 of the ecclesiastical burial).

Comments added to this Canon. The Church always tried to encourage the custom of Christians to bury the corpses of the faithful, threatening with penalties those who challenged this custom of hostility against Christian practices and for denying the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul (On the other Clean side, these last two, such as the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul, are expressed in the creed).

But since it is an intrinsically bad thing or in itself opposed to the Christian religion, the Church did not oppose the cremation of corpses when it was clear that they were not due to reprehensible reasons, but to causes of special gravity (such are the cases of war where it is impossible to bury all those killed in battle or in the case of plagues)

 So that the pious sense of the faithful towards ecclesiastical tradition is not undermined and to clearly show that the mind of the Church is opposed to cremation, the rites of ecclesiastical burial and subsequent suffrages should never be celebrated in the same place when the cremation takes place, not even in the form of simple accompaniment in the transfer of the corpse (Institution of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, July 5, 1963: AAS 56-1964; 822-823)

This document clearly states that the Church:

a) He continues to show his preference for the burial of the corpses.

b) only allows cremation in the cases already specified in the upper parenthesis, that is, in times of war or plague where the common good, which in this case is the health of the community, is endangered by rotting and decomposition of corpses.

c) To submit the burial certificate, prohibit ecclesiastical rites from being held at the cremation site, as stated above. Finally, it is important to take into account C. 1204, which deals with ecclesiastical burial in the case of cremation.

CONCLUSION.  After exposing the doctrine of the Church on the cremation of corpses, there is no other option than to faithfully follow this doctrine under pain of incurring the sanctions here on earth and the consequences in eternal life. This practice is very well defined and penalized for nothing in accordance with the doctrine of the Church. I hope that all Catholics are consistent and make true decisions that are in accordance with their baptism and with the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and definitively reject this terrible custom of cremating corpses, a practice that smells of sulfur, that smells of hell.

We are very sorry that many current ecclesiastical authorities collaborate in this anti-Catholic practice both passively by not publicly disapproving of cremation and by making local churches cemeteries not for corpses but for urns filled with ashes, being a very lucrative business. We are very sorry for this double standard of the "official" Church and, such an attitude, confuses Catholics. We could well apply those words of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Pharisees in relation to Solomon's temple: "My house is a house of prayer and not a den of thieves", each one draws his own conclusion and may God have mercy on us.