to think taking photos of someone in a coffin is the height of disrespect?

Worms are lovely. St Francis of Assisi loved worms. Praise creation for its economy of nourishment.

I’m a catholic and have never seen anyone do it at a funeral,

It is a cultural thing and you should be more respectful of other cultures. It’s not just Catholics other cultures do the same.

Is it different if its a BBC camera filming the body?

It's cultural.

"Shoving" it underground to be eaten by worms isn't much better let's face it.

You have posted on here before where you were very judgemental about grieving clients who "lacked the respect" to find trousers to wear after their mum had died.
You post here just smacks of more lack of understanding about how people grieve, and how things can change... even on the day.

Someone filming their gran on their final journey is about them... not you.

Please do grieving families a favour and get a different job.

It’s interesting so many people try to paint it as gruesome and wrong, personally I think that of leaving your loved one alone in a fridge in a morgue.
Catholics keep the loved one at home, surrounded by family until they are laid to rest. I think it’s much more respectful.

In that context yes, disrespectful. They should probably not allow phones.

I do wish this was more normal in England rather than shutting the dead away and having it all taboo and hidden and clinical.

UK.
Your experience isn’t the only reality.

Roman Catholicism believes in the resurrection of the body and the life of her world to come.

We also believe in transubstantiation...becoming one in the body of Christ at the Eucharist.

It's an embodied faith. We love stuff.

Why wouldn't you want to remember a last moment with the Holy Father?

So long as nobody is fighting, it's beautiful.

It wasn’t gruesome or upsetting in the slightest. It was honouring their dead relatives and they made such an effort to make them look well turned out with new clothes etc and bought them gifts of things they loved when they were living. Personally wouldn’t want to do that with my own rellys but I find the meaning behind the ritual very touching.

It was on ‘Dark tourist’ for anyone interested. Actually a very good series worth watching!

Well, yes. If you are brought up in that culture then it is probably something you celebrate every year.
I do think that we generally fear death and all that comes with it. It gets us all in the end.

I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all especially if they were in a lot of pain and the loved one wants to remember them at peace.

I remember seeing my grandad laid out in the front room when I was about 9 in the 70s. He looked very peaceful.

It’s a cultural/ religious difference

@OlderYearsIsBest The reference to 'cultural' just means that different cultures/countries/groups have different ideas. So in some societies, death is talked about more, viewing a dead body might be common, they could have different rituals - like burning a body, or burying a body, or embalming a body etc. in another society, it could be that death is never referred to. We just get used to what we're subjected to, so it seems normal to us. (Just ignore this if you weren't really asking what 'cultural' meant! I just took you literally.)

This is done in our family.
Its not a family photo to pop on show its personal and its not a all get in the shot thing.
Its not shameful its a sign of respect for the dead.
We are taught not to fear the dead in our family and we dont.

I didn't see the programme (wouldn't want to) but I have heard about that tradition. It sounds gruesome and upsetting, but I suppose it isn't if you've been brought up in that culture.

I am from a catholic country and personally I think it is creepy, but some of my family member did take photos of their grandparents just after their death (no open coffin funerals so they could not take them then). It weirds me out but a lot of people consider it normal.

Agree. I find it really really distasteful. Why would you want that on your camera roll? So strange. Is it mindless snapping or something else?

edit: I’m thinking here of people taking photos of Pope Francis, not the individual and very sad examples some ppl have shared above about family members. 🕊️ 💟

To me corpses have never held any appeal- it’s not the person. Their soul has gone. It’s just an empty vessel. Seen both my parents die & seeing their dead bodies was a bizarre and unsettling experience. I would never want an open coffin & I’ve never been to see people at funeral homes etc when they’ve died. I prefer to remember them when they were alive and themselves- with their personality and their soul. Everyone is different but to me a corpse is just that.

Where do you live? Ireland? I've been to lots of funerals and never seen an open coffin

People take photos for different reasons.

I took a photo of my dad in his coffin,
because he looked better then that he had in the last 6 weeks of his life.

I also have a few photos of my mum,
not because we wanted them but
because she looked horrendous and
we have made a complaint to the
funeral home. So the photos are
"evidence" of what we saw. She died
peacefully and naturally so should
have looked reasonably good, instead what we saw was awful!

I wasn't allowed to see my son
because of his injuries (suicide) but I wish I had a photo, but thats because he died in another country and I still
get the "what if it wasn't him
moments"