Catholic funeral etiquette

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

This guide to Catholic funerals explains everything you need to know about Catholic beliefs about death, Catholic funeral rites, including the recommended dress code and etiquette for mourning.

What are Catholic beliefs about death?

Catholics believe in life after death. They believe that their actions during life determines whether a person’s soul goes directly to heaven or hell, or spend time in purgatory.

In Catholic theology purgatory means that even someone who has repented for sins during their lifetime cannot go directly to heaven as immediately as someone who has never sinned.

In the Middle Ages it was believed that ghosts were spirits of the dead who needed living people to help them fulfil their obligations before they were allowed to enter heaven.

Many medieval ghost stories feature people compelled to complete tasks on behalf of the ghosts of people trapped in purgatory.

In the 16th

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