This is evident from a joint declaration by the dioceses of Limburg, Mainz, Speyer and Trier as well as the Archdiocese of Cologne.
The responsible persons therefore attach great importance to the fact that the name remains recognizable at the grave site beyond death as a sign of the uniqueness and dignity of the deceased person," stressed Trier's Vicar General Ulrich von Plettenberg on Wednesday.
We promote the culture of visible, publicly accessible grave sites as a link for mourning and communal commemoration.
"These options are hardly equivalent to the new forms of burial." However, it should be emphasized that a church service and pastoral accompaniment could still take place, even without a cemetery burial.
Also for financially weaker
The Vicar General of the Diocese of Speyer, Markus Magin, added: "A special concern for us is that even those who receive a worthy funeral and a name-born grave site who have little financial resources or no relatives."
Here, the municipalities in particular are legally regarded as having a duty.
The Church, however, offers them the participation in shaping good solutions.
Since January, it has been possible in Rhineland-Palatinate, among other things, to process the ashes of deceased into a memento and to have them buried under the native apple tree or in one of the large rivers of the federal state.
Other changes concern honorary graves for soldiers who died in foreign operations as well as the funeral of so-called star children. These are children who died before, during or immediately after birth.
The diocese lines also appreciate that after 42 years the legal basis has been adapted to today's requirements.
The Mainz Vicar General Sebastian Lang mentions, for example, the regulation that the municipalities must allow their nearest relatives to burial in addition to their inhabitants: "This contributes to the fact that a grave may be where someone lives, to whom it is important as a place of mourning and remembrance."