On 19/08/07, Declan Fox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I have no idea what el Papa and the Vatican say these days but I can
tell you for sure that lots of traditional Catholics in Ireland object
to cremation on religious grounds. That's regular folks, not doctors.
Rationale goes back to the days of fond belief in saints and in good
ordinary folks sometimes being canonised. I always heard that one of the
criteria for sainthood was that the body had to be exhumed and show no
signs of decay. Not sure how formalin comes into the equation, I'm no
expert on this. But anyway, if a body got cremated, that buggered up
that person's chance of ever being canonised.
So I was taught and so I heard, when I was younger and to this day,
plenty of devout Catholics would not consider cremation for themselves
or anyone belonging to them. All my Catholic friends and neighbours
around here get buried in wooden coffins, have not heard of anyone ever
opting for cremation.

So that would be two fingers +/- a legal challenge to the GMC. Have to
set old ratface onto Graham Catto!

Declan