A Catholic funeral is carried out in accordance with the prescribed rites of the Catholic Church. Such funerals are referred to in Catholic canon law as "ecclesiastical funerals" and are dealt with in canons 1176–1185 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and in canons 874–879 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. In Catholic funerals, the Church "seeks spiritual support for the deceased, honors their bodies, and at the same time brings the solace of hope to the living." The Second Vatican Council in its Constitution on the Liturgy decreed: "The rite for the burial of the dead should express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death, and should correspond more closely to the circumstances and traditions found in various regions."

In general, Catholics are to be given a Catholic funeral upon their death. Catechumens are to be considered as Catholics with regard to funeral matters, and the local ordinary may permit unbaptized children whose parents intended to have them baptized to be given a Catholic funeral. The local ordinary may also permit baptized persons who were not Catholic to be given a Catholic funeral, provided their own minister is not available, unless they were clearly opposed to it.

However, Catholic burial rites are to be refused even to baptized Catholics who fall within any of the following classifications, unless they gave some sign of repentance before death:

The Latin Church also has some guidelines regarding the church in which the funeral rites are to be celebrated and limits on the fees payable to a priest for conducting the funeral.

What follows concerns practice in the Roman Rite of the Latin Church. Practice within Eastern Catholic Churches is basically similar, but takes account of different traditions and follows different liturgical norms. There are some variations also with regard to other Latin liturgical rites.

In the wake of the Council of Trent, the Roman Breviary (1568) and the Roman Missal (1570) were imposed almost everywhere in the Latin Church. However, when the Roman Ritual was issued in 1614, its use was not made obligatory. Nevertheless, local ritual books were generally influenced by it, while often keeping practices and texts traditional in their areas.

The Second Vatican Council was followed by a revision of the liturgy of the Roman Rite, including that for funerals in the De exsequiis section of the previous Rituale Romanum with the Order of Christian Funerals. The Council also mandated revisions to the rite for the burial of infants, with a specific liturgical rite to be used on these occasions.

The Roman Missal as revised by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II has since then been "the normal Form – the Forma ordinaria – of the Eucharistic Liturgy", while the previous edition of the Roman Missal, that of 1962, is "able to be used as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgical celebration". In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI indicated that, "for those faithful or priests who request it, the pastor should allow celebrations in this extraordinary form also in special circumstances such as [...] funerals".