 Church belief in the resurrection of the body led to a prohibition against cremation that was pastorally modified at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s under limited circumstances , but those conditions have been largely ignored even by the clergy . According to the Catechism , burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy that must treat the body with respect and love ( e.g. scattering of cremated remains , burial in an unmarked grave , etc. are forbidden in the Catholic Church ) . Organ donation after death and organ transplants under certain terms , also autopsies for legal and scientific reasons are permitted . 
