quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit

itaque

Member

I am considering the following text from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
Altare maius exstruatur a pariete seiunctum, ut facile circumiri et in eo celebratio versus populum peragi possit, quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit.
The text is officially translated as "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."

Now, according to this article, "quod" is actually referring to the position of the altar, as opposed to the orientation of the celebrant. But the author gives no justification for this---how do I know whether he/she is correct?
 
 

Dantius

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The Latin is no clearer than the English in this regard. If the author of the Latin wanted to make it clear that the quod clause was referring to the position of the altar, they should've put it right after altare...seiunctum. As it stands, the quod clause could refer either to the sentence as a whole (building the altar in that position for that purpose is desirable), which is basically what the article is claiming, or to the full contents of the ut clause (letting the altar be walk-around-able and letting Mass be celebrated facing the people is desirable), or specifically to the second part of the ut clause (letting Mass be celebrated facing the people is desirable).
 
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