An item in the Telegraph yesterday had the headline: “Pope forbids ash scattering in fear of New Age ideas about afterlife.” It goes on to state that “Strict new Vatican guidelines forbid a list of increasingly popular means of commemorating loved ones, from scattering ashes at sea to having them turned into jewellery or put in a locket, dismissing them as New Age practices and “pantheism”.
It so happens that cremation has been on my mind for the last few weeks, as my grandson, now in his 3rd year reading history at Trinity College, Oxford, is writing a thesis on Catholic views about burial or cremation. On his behalf I have been asking friends to contribute to his questionnaire. Along the way I have realised that some Catholics have very strong views on the subject and they are deeply opposed to cremation, even though the Church has permitted it since 1963.
