Two pages and one group on Facebook (FB) have revived an advisory stating that Catholics are forbidden from keeping ashes of their cremated relatives at home. This needs context.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines allows cremated remains to be stored temporarily at home under specific circumstances like waiting for a family member to come home from abroad, or the inability to immediately secure a gravesite due to financial difficulties.
“The remains can be temporarily stored in an urn and be placed on the altar at home but not for more than a year,” Fr. Vladimir Echalas, head of the research office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), told VERA Files Fact Check in a Nov. 12 email.
In general, the CBCP’s Liturgical Guidelines on Cremation adheres to this instruction with regards to preserving cremated remains:
“4. The cremated remains should be buried in [a] grave, mausoleum, or columbarium. The practice of scattering the ashes in the sea or from the air is not in keeping with the Church’s norm regarding the proper disposal of the remains of the dead. Likewise the urn should not be kept permanently at home or [at the] family altar.”
The CBCP’s rule is similar to a 2016 instruction released by the Vatican, forbidding Catholics from taking home the ashes of their loved ones, scattering ashes, or dividing the ashes of the deceased among family members.
The two-year-old post recirculated last Nov. 2 as the country observed All Souls Day. FB page HugotSeminarista published the original infographic on Nov. 2, 2022, which read:
“DID YOU KNOW: Catholics are forbidden from keeping ashes of cremated loved ones.
In 2016, the Vatican affirmed that Catholics may be cremated but should not have their ashes scattered or kept in urns at home.
Ashes must be kept in a holy place, that is a cemetery or a church or in a place that has been specifically dedicated to this purpose. The conservation of ashes in the home is not allowed.”
In 2023, the Vatican released a new instruction saying it will now consider and evaluate requests from families who wish to keep a portion of their relatives’ ashes in a place significant to the deceased.
“It might be allowed by ecclesiastical authorities in other countries, however it is not permitted by the ecclesiastical authorities in the Philippines,” Fr. Echalas noted.
In other countries, requests to take a small portion of a deceased person’s cremated remains must rule out “pantheistic, naturalistic, or nihilistic misunderstanding.”
“Bawal na pag hati-hatian ang mga ashes or buto para gawing amulets or ilagay sa mga kuwintas or dalhin natin sa ating katawan for emotional reasons (Cremated ashes or bones cannot be divided [among family members] to be made into amulets, placed in necklaces, or carried in our body for emotional reasons,” Echalas explained in another email dated Nov. 11.
FB pages Our Lady of Fatima (created on April 13, 2014) and The Source of Miracle – Divine Mercy (created on Dec. 29, 2009) Miracles and FB group Divine Mercy (created on Nov. 14, 2014) republished the two-year-old post during the 2024 All Souls Day commemoration.
These reshared posts garnered a total of over 749 reactions, 71 comments, and 658 shares as of Nov. 12.
