The bishop of Balanga town, Bataan province, ordered fees removed for funeral Mass and blessings in his diocese.
In a circular, Bishop Ruperto Santos said ending the collection of fees for funeral services would be a form of condoling with grieving relatives or friends of the dead.
“Financial obligations from the perspective of the Church are not of prime importance and must not be a burden,” he said in a post on CBCPNews, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
He also ordered that no fees for Mass must be required by priests, even for those in funeral parlors and memorial chapels.
Santos said the Church “should not oblige” the faithful to pay for such services “but we can be open for their free will to giver or donate to the Church.”
Santos said parishes’ finances would be audited.