Scotland: hydrolysis as an alternative option to burial or cremation

The Scottish Government laid the Hydrolysis (Scotland) (No. 1) Regulations 2026 and the Hydrolysis (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 in the Scottish Parliament on 3 December. The Regulations will enable hydrolysis to be offered as an alternative option to burial or cremation. The timetable for evidence sessions on the draft Regulations will be set by the Scottish Parliament and, if approved, the Regulations will come into force on 2 March 2026.

In the roundup on 12 May 2024, we provided a link to a paper by Georgina Robinson in The Conversation: Water cremation: sustainable body disposal is coming to Scotland – here are the benefits, which reviews alkaline hydrolysis and notes that following the 2023 public consultation, the Scottish Government announced plans to introduce regulations that would permit the use of alkaline hydrolysis. 

The Regulations which have been laid follow the same pattern as those relating to cremation, which, unlike those for cremation in England and Wales, provide for “joint hydrolysis” and “shared hydrolysis” under certain circumstances. However, as we noted earlier, theological matters aside, there are two entirely separate issues: whether alkaline hydrolysis is a legal method of disposing of human remains and whether the necessary wastewater discharge consents will be forthcoming for each of the locations at which the process is sited.

Gift Aid rules for charities to remain unchanged

This is probably marginal to the interests of religious organisations generally, but there has been considerable speculation in the voluntary sector about changes to the Gift Aid rules on subscriptions to charities – some of which are religious – under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

That uncertainty now appears to have been put to an end. In answer to a question to the Chancellor from Dr Ellie Chowns (Greens, North Herefordshire), the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Dan Tomlinson, said this:

“The Government is pleased to confirm that charities will continue to be eligible for Gift Aid following implementation of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. While new tax legislation may be necessary in due course, HMRC will shortly publish interim guidance setting out that where subscriptions are currently eligible under existing Gift Aid rules, they will remain so.”

For Women Scotland Ltd and Northern Ireland

On an issue that is not strictly about “religion” but highly relevant to it, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has applied to the High Court for leave to seek judicial review for clarification of how the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 in relation to Great Britain should be applied in the different legal context of Northern Ireland, where the 2010 Act does not apply. The Supreme Court’s judgment, which we noted here, did not consider the particular context of the different legal obligations in Northern Ireland, including Article 2 of the post-Brexit Windsor Framework.

Irish Legal News reports that Geraldine McGahey, chief commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, said: “The Commission is obviously not seeking to challenge the Supreme Court’s judgment regarding the interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 in Great Britain. Our objective is to secure the greatest possible legal clarity regarding the interpretation of the judgment as it applies in Northern Ireland.”

Women in the Roman Catholic diaconate?

Vatican News reports that the Commission chaired by Cardinal Petrocchi, which was established by Pope Francis to examine the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, has come to a rather equivocal conclusion. In its report, Cardinal Petrocchi highlights the existence of “an intense dialectic” between two theological orientations – one insisting that “the ordination of a deacon is for ministry and not for priesthood”, which would open the way toward the ordination of women deacons, and the other insisting on “the unity of the sacrament of Holy Orders”, which would reject it. For now, no change, but he concludes that further work is needed:

“a rigorous and wide-ranging critical examination focused on the diaconate in itself—that is, on its sacramental identity and its ecclesial mission—clarifying certain structural and pastoral aspects that are currently not fully defined.”

Roman Catholic Church: End of mandatory Latin for official acts

Catholic Online News reports that a new Regulation of the Roman Curia, approved by Pope Leo XIV on 24 November, updates long-standing norms and introduces modernised workflows, digital processes, and new personnel expectations — while also ending the centuries-old requirement that curial acts be drafted in Latin.

The Regulation states that official acts may now be written “in another language,” replacing the previous mandate that all such documents be composed in Latin. The Catholic Herald has reported that officials have “privately acknowledged” this will likely lead to Latin being abandoned “in practice,” though the Vatican’s “Office of the Latin Language” will continue operating under the Secretariat of State to assist all curial departments. A full analysis of these developments is here. 

Within the Church of England, the use of Latin is permitted for authorized forms of service, said or sung, under the provisions of Canon B 42: Of the language of divine service for Provincial Convocations, University colleges and halls, the colleges of Westminster, Winchester and Eton, and “[s]uch other places of religious and sound learning as custom allows or the bishop or other the Ordinary may permit”. 

Quick links

• Alison Mawhinney, Legal Studies: Compulsory curricula and human rights: a revised framework for balancing competing interests: the full text.
• Robbie Meredith,  BBC News: Religious Education ‘not suitable’ for NI society, study suggests: it should be noted that the research was carried out before the recent Supreme Court judgment, which Russell Sandberg noted here.
• Georgina Pein, UK Human Rights Blog: Manifestation of religious belief: Smith v Manchester City Council [2025] EWHC 2987 (KB).
• David Torrance, House of Commons Library: Historic restrictions on members of the Catholic and Jewish faiths.