Dogs and cats buried in their owners' grave? In Lombardy it's now possible, thanks to a reform that satisfies those who don't want to be separated from their four-legged friend even in eternal rest.
The practice of burying the animals most beloved by the deceased is not a recent one: it was common in ancient Egypt, for example. The Etruscans did it, as did many Asian and Indo-European peoples. Traces of it have also been found at Pompeii in some recent discoveries of tombs and funerary inscriptions. Now the Regional Council of Lombardy has given the green light, with 41 votes in favour and 29 against (the Partito Democratico and the Movimento 5 Stelle had opposed it), to a wide-ranging reform of necroscopic, funeral and cemetery services that also includes the possibility for domestic animals to be interred in the same grave as their owner.
A great many people consider companion animals to be members of their own family. Hence the need to find places to remember them, or to offer the possibility of sharing eternal rest with them after life. "Currently there is no national law, only guidelines from the Ministry of Health issued in 2013 for the application of a 2009 European regulation governing the disposal of animal by-products," comments the honourable Vittoria Brambilla, president of the Lega italiana per la difesa degli animali e dell'ambiente.
"The guidelines allow the burial of companion animals on private land or in animal cemeteries according to the criteria laid down by each region or autonomous province. Not all regions, however, have gone on to issue specific regulations."
The recent decision in Lombardy could pave the way for a national law to regulate the matter and give the green light to the interment of people and animals together in cemetery burial niches. "This is excellent news, and I hope it opens the way for the approval of the national bill filed last summer, which provides for the burial of companion animals' remains in their owner's grave. What is essentially being proposed is an amendment to the framework law on companion animals (281/91), to establish uniform rules on the burial of animals, the construction of animal cemeteries and cremation services."
Not everyone is happy about what is happening in Lombardy. A priest from Brescia, for example, immediately took issue with the reform. "If any of my parishioners wants to be buried with their dog or cat, with all due respect for animals, they can find another priest to take them to the cemetery," Don Marco Mori, parish priest in the San Polo district and former head of the oratory office of the Diocese of Brescia, stated on Twitter. A dissenting voice not welcomed by the very many priests who preach love and respect for animals and for the world around us. And, as many users pointed out on Facebook, one that is plainly at odds with the positions of great saints and martyrs of the Church. One example above all? Saint Francis of Assisi, the undisputed master of the deep relationship between human beings and the other inhabitants of creation, wolves and birds chief among them.
