[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

The Mass nonetheless took place, with the readings in Latin, the priest ... who turned his back to the assembly

Just because the mass is in Latin doesn't mean that the priest must turn his back to the congregation. They can modify that part of the ritual, and he can face the congregation. I don't know that I'd like to look at the priest's back for an hour.

it cannot become a way to do proselytisms or to please the nostalgics

The nostalgics!

[neb52]

Actually you probably wouldn’t even notice the priest when his back is to you, since he is no longer the face of the show.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/11/from-another-entry-during-the-roman-canon-i-felt-intense-loneliness/

[FloreatIacobus]

Just because the mass is in Latin doesn't mean that the priest must turn his back to the congregation. They can modify that part of the ritual, and he can face the congregation. I don't know that I'd like to look at the priest's back for an hour.

The T.L.M. rubrics presuppose Mass celebrated 'facing the Altar', actually the N.O. rubrics do as well (though very few churches still do so). Mass is best celebrated with Priest and congregation together facing a common focus (God) as the then Cardinal Ratzinger explained in "The Spirit of the Liturgy".

[Antoninus]

Just because the mass is in Latin doesn't mean that the priest must turn his back to the congregation. They can modify that part of the ritual, and he can face the congregation. I don't know that I'd like to look at the priest's back for an hour.

Well, I don't like looking at the back of the old guy in the pew in front of me either. Perhaps I could ask him to turn around, too? Or maybe we could just sit in a big circle and sing Kumbaya so that no one need see anyone else's back.

This terminology ("turning his back") is almost always used by liturgical wreckovators. In no sense is the priest "turning his back on the people". In every sense, the priest is facing with the people toward God. It allows the focus of the Mass to be on God, not on a performer on the altar/stage.

[steve86]

As has been pointed out, the Mass is offered to God and in the proper Mass the priest faces the altar as it represents the location of God. Why do your whinings concerning looking at someone’s back have any significance whatsoever? They are as insignificant as you compared to God. Why is your mind on the back of the priest instead of God anyway?