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→Liturgical orientation: "It is not possible that this letter can have been "superseded" by the General Instruction." |
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In ''The Spirit of the Liturgy'', Cardinal [[Joseph Ratzinger]] (later [[Pope Benedict XVI]]) attributed to the influence of [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] the fact that other churches in Rome are built with the apse to the west and also attributed to topographical circumstances that arrangement for Saint Peter's.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cW_MBQAAQBAJ&dq=Ratzinger+%22faced+west%22&pg=PA77 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, ''The Spirit of the Liturgy'' (Ignatius Press 2014), p. 77]</ref> However, the arrangement whereby the apse with the altar is at the west end of the church and the entrance on the east is found also in Roman churches contemporary with Saint Peter's (such as the original [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls#The tomb of St. Paul|Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]]) that were under no such constraints of terrain, and the same arrangement remained the usual one until the 6th century.<ref>"When Christians in fourth-century Rome could first freely begin to build churches, they customarily located the sanctuary towards the west end of the building in imitation of the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple. Although in the days of the Jerusalem Temple the high priest indeed faced east when sacrificing on Yom Kippur, the sanctuary within which he stood was located at the west end of the Temple. The Christian replication of the layout and the orientation of the Jerusalem Temple helped to dramatize the eschatological meaning attached to the sacrificial death of Jesus the High Priest in the Epistle to the Hebrews." [http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/articles/biblical_roots.php "The Biblical Roots of Church Orientation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124173943/https://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/articles/biblical_roots.php |date=24 November 2020 }} by Helen Dietz.</ref> In this early layout, the people were situated in the side aisles of the church, not in the central nave. While the priest faced both the altar and east throughout the Mass, the people would face the altar (from the sides) until the high point of the Mass, where they would then turn to face east along with the priest.<ref>"Msgr. Klaus Gamber has pointed out that although in these early west-facing Roman basilicas the people stood in the side naves and faced the centrally located altar for the first portion of the service, nevertheless at the approach of the consecration they all turned to face east towards the open church doors, the same direction the priest faced throughout the Eucharistic liturgy." [http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/articles/biblical_roots.php "The Biblical Roots of Church Orientation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124173943/https://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/articles/biblical_roots.php |date=24 November 2020 }} by Helen Dietz.</ref>
In its guidelines for the arrangement of churches, the current Roman Missal directs: "The altar should be built apart from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible." The English also states that both the construction of the altar away from the wall and the celebration {{lang|la|versus populum}} are "desirable wherever possible."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf|title=''GIRM'', 299}}</ref> A 2000 statement by the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] stated that "There is no preference expressed in the liturgical legislation for either position. As both positions enjoy the favor of law, the legislation may not be invoked to say that one position or the other accords more closely with the mind of the Church."
The rubrics of the Roman Missal now prescribe that the priest should face the people at six points of the Mass.{{Efn|The six times are:
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