catholicexchange.com/2006/02/10/83004/
Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) taught:
Communion only reaches its true depths when it is supported and surrounded by adoration. The Eucharist Presence in the tabernacle does not set another view of the Eucharist alongside or against the Eucharistic celebration, but simply signifies its complete fulfillment. For this Presence has the effect, of course, of keeping the Eucharist forever in church. The church never becomes a lifeless space but is always filled with the presence of the Lord, which comes out of the celebration, leads us into it, and always makes us participants in the cosmic Eucharist. What man of faith has not experienced this? A church without the Eucharistic Presence is somehow dead, even then it invites people to pray. But a church in which the eternal light is burning before the tabernacle is always alive, is always something more than a building made of stones. In this place the Lord is always waiting for me, calling me, wanting to make me “eucharistic.” In this way, he prepared me for the Eucharist, sets me in motion toward His return (The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 90).
To clarify the situation, Pope John Paul II approved and confirmed the Instruction Concerning Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery (Inaestimabile Donum) issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship which taught:
The tabernacle in which the Eucharist is kept can be located on an altar, or away from it, in a spot in the Church which is very prominent, truly noble and duly decorated, or in a chapel suitable for private prayer and for adoration by the faithful. (No. 24)
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2000) stated:
It is more in keeping with its meaning as a sign, that the tabernacle in which the Most Blessed Sacrament is reserved not be on the altar on which Mass is celebrated. Moreover, the tabernacle should be placed, according to the judgment of the diocesan bishops: (1) either in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration, in the most suitable form and place, not excluding on an old altar which is no longer used for celebration; (2) or even in another chapel suitable for adoration and the private prayer of the faithful, and which is integrally connected with the church and is conspicuous to the faithful. (No. 315)
