“We believed that after the Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness … And how did this come about? We will confide to you the thought that may be, we ourselves admit in free discussion, that may be unfounded, and that is that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the devil. It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.”
–Pope Paul VI (June 29, 1972, Homily during the Mass for Sts. Peter & Paul, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his coronation)
I think this famous quote refers the unfortunate season following Vatican II where the truths of the Council were hijacked by those with secular modernist agendas. But the power of the Holy Spirit is overwhelming, and He is patient. The Church is being set right even today.
For a look at what Pope Paul VI’s papal liturgist thinks of this, visit CWN’s article “Paul VI saw liturgical abuse as “smoke of Satan”
