The Catholic Church has issued new rules about cremation.

The Vatican's Department of Doctrine has issued two pages of instructions to the faithful on the issue.

Storing the ashes in an urn on the mantelpiece is now forbidden.

They must be stored in a "sacred place" such as a cemetery.

The new guidelines also ban scattering of ashes: "It is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way".

The Vatican says it is trying to stamp out "erroneous ideas about death"

The church opposes concepts including the idea that scattering ashes is a moment of "fusion with Mother Nature".

The Vatican has always frowned on cremation.

It has only been permitted for Catholics since 1963.