• Every Catholic or Catechumen (someone in the process of becoming Catholic) is entitled to the Church’s assistance at the time of death.

• Catholic funeral Rites, including the funeral Mass, are permitted for a deceased baptized non-Catholic who might reasonably be presumed to desire or prefer the Catholic Rite. Such a decision would be appropriate when non-Catholics worship regularly in the Catholic Church or identify deeply with the Catholic Church.

• A child who dies before baptism or a stillborn or miscarried child may be given Catholic Funeral Rites if the parents intended to have the child baptized.

• In all situations, the remains of the deceased should receive reverent Christian burial. Remains should never be scattered or kept in personal homes.

• The Church encourages the burial of Catholics in Catholic cemeteries. Burial in the consecrated ground of a Catholic cemetery is a sign of baptismal commitment and gives witness, even in death, to faith in Christ’s Resurrection.



• To foster and respect family bonds, non-Catholic members of Catholic families may be interred in a Catholic cemetery.