Liturgy

Why Paul VI saw liturgical abuses as the 'smoke of Satan'

Cardinal Virgilio Noe

Contents - Jul 2008 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Significance of World Youth Day 2008 - Michael Gilchrist Liturgy: Archbishop Coleridge calls for an end to liturgical experimentation - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Abortion: A false concept of moral equivalence - Babette Francis Selective tolerance: Queensland University Student Union censures Catholic student group - Allison Atkins WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008: Juventutem Australia: young people devoted to the traditional liturgy - Alice Woolven WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008: Authentic Catholicism: a fertile ground for vocations to flourish - Fr Anthony Denton FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: Jesus: how do we know he was God? - Br Barry Coldrey CFC Religious faith and the power of music and song - Andrw Kania Liturgy: Why Paul VI saw liturgical abuses as the 'smoke of Satan' - Cardinal Virgilio Noe WORLD YOUTH DAY: Turin Shroud display in Melbourne to coincide with World Youth Day - Max Crockett Letters: Anne Lastman's Remarkable book 'Redeeming Grief' - Fr Raymond Wells Letters: Culture of life - Fr Bernard McGrath Letters: Vatican II - John Schmid Letters: Buddha in church in South Brisbane - Richard Stokes Letters: Climate concerns - Dr Brian E. Lloyd Books: Cardinal Pell's new Mass Book - This Is The Mass Books: TURMOIL AND TRUTH, by Philip Trower - Tim Cannon (reviewer) Books: SERMONS PREACHED ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS, by John Henry Newman - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: Books available from AD2000 Books Reflection: The Real Presence: 'an essential element of the deposit of faith' - Bishop Arthur Serratelli

When Pope Paul VI spoke about the 'smoke of Satan' entering the Catholic Church, he was referring to liturgical abuses, according to the prelate who served as his master of ceremonies.

Cardinal Virgilio Noe, the chief Vatican liturgist during the pontificate of Paul VI, spoke candidly about the late Pope's concerns during an interview with the Rome-based Petrus website in May.

Archbishop Noe, who was also the Vatican's top liturgist under Pope John Paul I and during the early years of the pontificate of John Paul II, is now retired, and at the age of 86 his health is failing. In his interview with Petrus he concentrated primarily on his years serving Pope Paul VI.

Pope Paul accepted the liturgical reforms after Vatican II 'with pleasure' Cardinal Noe said. He added that Paul VI was not by nature a sad man, but 'he was saddened by the fact of having been left alone by the Roman Curia.'

Regarding Paul VI's famous remark about the 'smoke of Satan,' Cardinal Noe said that he knew what the Pope intended by that statement. In that denunciation, he said, the Pope 'meant to include all those priests or bishops and cardinals who didn't render worship to the Lord by celebrating badly Holy Mass because of an errant interpretation of the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.

'He spoke of the smoke of Satan because he maintained that those priests who turned Holy Mass into dross in the name of creativity, in reality were possessed of the vainglory and the pride of the Evil One. So, the smoke of Satan was nothing other than the mentality which wanted to distort the traditional and liturgical canons of the Eucharistic ceremony.'

For Paul VI, the cardinal continued, the worst outcome of the post-conciliar liturgical reform was the 'craving to be in the limelight' that caused many priests to ignore liturgical guidelines. Cardinal Noe recalled that the Pope himself believed in careful adherence to the rubrics of the Mass, firmly believing that 'no one is lord of the Mass.'

Speaking for himself, the Cardinal said that the liturgy must always be celebrated with reverence and careful respect for the rubrics, while noting with regret that in the wake of Vatican II 'it was believed that everything, or nearly everything, was permitted.' Cardinal Noe concluded: 'Now it is necessary to recover - and in a hurry -- the sense of the sacred in the ars celebrandi, before the smoke of Satan completely pervades the whole Church.'

Catholic World News

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 21 No 6 (July 2008), p. 12