Leder av liturgikongregasjonen, kardinal Robert Sarah, foreslo nylig (ganske overraskende må man nok si, og muligens også noe urealistisk) at alle prester bør «snu alteret» allerede fra første søndag i advent i år:
Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Vatican’s liturgy chief, has asked priests to begin celebrating Mass ad orientem, that is, facing east rather than towards the congregation.
The proposed reform is arguably the biggest liturgical announcement since Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum gave greater freedom for priests to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass.
Speaking at the Sacra Liturgia conference in London on Wednesday, the Guinean cardinal, who is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, addressed priests who were present, saying: “It is very important that we return as soon as possible to a common orientation, of priests and the faithful turned together in the same direction – eastwards or at least towards the apse – to the Lord who comes”.
The cardinal continued: “I ask you to implement this practice wherever possible.”
He said that “prudence” and catechesis would be necessary, but told pastors to have “confidence that this is something good for the Church, something good for our people”. …
Kardinal Sara sa også noe mer i dette foredraget:
… In his talk, Cardinal Sarah also said that Pope Francis had asked him to begin a study of “the reform of the reform”, that is of adapting the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council. The cardinal said the study would seek “to enrich the two forms of the Roman rite”.
Cardinal Sarah said that much liturgical study had suggested that some post-conciliar reforms “may have been put together according to the spirit of the times” and “gone beyond” of the Fathers of Vatican II, in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the constitution on the liturgy.
He said that some “very serious misinterpretations of the liturgy” had crept in, thanks to an attitude to the liturgy which placed man rather than God at the centre. …
Vatikanets tallsmann (Federico Lombardi) sier at det blir ingen endring i hvordan messen skal feires, men i tillegg han sier “Cardinal Sarah is always rightly concerned with the dignity of the celebration of Mass, that it might adequately express an attachment of respect and adoration for the eucharistic mystery”
Flere liturgiske eksperter sier at Cardinal Sarah har ikke myndighet til å pålegge endringer, han rett og slett oppmuntrer en praksis som liturgiskeloven allerede tillater
Det har vært mye i nyhetene i går og i dag om dette. Det har blitt enda tydeligere enn det var fra starten av, at kardinal Sarah oppfordrer biskoper og prester til å feire messen ad orientem, men at han ikke (aldri) antydet at noen nye regler skulle kreve at dette skal skje. Det var altså en personlig oppfordring fra en viktig liturgisk leder i Vatikanet, verken mer eller mindre.
Og som du skriver, Johannes, dagens liturgiske regler sier ikke noe spesielt om hvilken regning alteret skal/må vende.