During the second part of the twentieth century, the RC Church moved towards an idea of the priestly function that was less hieratical, less magical, if you like. The old way - the priest celebrates mass facing the altar (the presence of god) with his back to the people - was that of the priest as an intermediary between the people and god. The new way was the priest facing the congregation as a pastor involved in a dialogue with the people, a human among other humans (almost).

Ratzinger (unsurprisingly) is getting rid of these sooo twentieth-century changes and going back to traditional practices.