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The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments has been asked whether the expression in n. 299 of
the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani constitutes a norm
according to which the position of the priest versus absidem
[facing the apse] is to be excluded.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments, after mature reflection and in light of
liturgical precedents, responds:
Negatively, and in accordance with the following
explanation.
The explanation includes different elements which must be taken
into account.
It is in the first place to be borne in mind that the word
expedit does not constitute an obligation, but a suggestion that
refers to the construction of the altar a pariete sejunctum
[detached from the wall] and to the celebration versus populum.
The clause ubi possibile sit refers to different elements, as,
for example, the topography of the place, the availability of
space, the artistic value of the existing altar, the sensibility
of the people participating in the celebrations in a particular
church, etc. It reaffirms that the position towards the assembly
seems more convenient inasmuch as it makes communication easier
(Cf. the editorial in Notitiae 29 [1993] 245-249), without
excluding, however, the other possibility. However, whatever may
be the position of the celebrating priest, it is clear that the
Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered to the one and triune God, and
that the principal, eternal, and high priest is Jesus Christ who
acts through the ministry of the priest who visibly presides as
his instrument. The liturgical assembly participates in the
celebration in virtue of the common priesthood of the faithful
which requires the ministry of the ordained priest to be
exercised in the Eucharistic Synaxis. The physical position,
especially with respect to the communication among the various
members of the assembly, must be distinguished from the interior
spiritual orientation of all. It would be a grave error to
imagine that the principle orientation of the sacrificial action
is [toward] the community. If the priest celebrates versus
populum, which is legitimate and often advisable, his spiritual
attitude ought always to be versus Deum per Jesus Christum, as
representative of the entire Church. The Church as well, which
takes concrete form in the assembly which participates, is
entirely turned versus Deum as its first spiritual movement.
It appears that the ancient tradition, though not without
exception, was that the celebrant and the praying community were
turned versus orientem, the direction from which the light which
is Christ comes. It is not unusual for ancient churches to be
"oriented" so that the priest and the people were turned versus
orientem during public prayer. It may be that when there were
problems of space, or of some other kind, the apse represented
the east symbolically. Today the expression versus orientem
often means versus apsidem, and in speaking of versus populum it
is not the west but rather the community present that is meant.
In the ancient architecture of churches, the place of the
Bishop or the celebrating priest was in the center of the apse
where, seated and turned towards the community, the proclamation
of the readings was listened to. Now this presidential place was
not ascribed to the human person of the bishop or the priest, nor
to his intellectual gifts and not even to his personal holiness,
but to his role as an instrument of the invisible Pontiff who is
the Lord Jesus.
When it is a question of ancient churches or great artistic
value it is appropriate, moreover, to keep in mind civil
legislation regarding changes or renovations. Adding another
altar may not always be a worthy solution.
There is no need to give excessive importance to elements
which have changed throughout the centuries. What always remains
is the event celebrated in the liturgy: this is manifested
through rites, signs, symbols and words which express various
aspects of the mystery without, however, exhausting it, because
it transcends them. Taking a rigid position and absolutizing it
could become a rejection of some aspect of the truth which merits
respect and acceptance.
Vatican City, 25 September 2000
+Jorge A. Card. Medina Estevez
Prefect
+Francesco Pio Tamburrino
Archbishop Secretary
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Topics
Promulgation
