The traditional Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church (1917) explicitly forbids and condemns the practice of cremation: "The bodies of the faithful deceased must be buried; and their cremation is re-probated (Canon 1203:1). If a person has in any way ordered that his body be cremated, it is illicit to obey such instruction; and if such a provision occur in a contract, last testament, or in any document whatsoever, it is to be disregarded." (Canon 1203:2).

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