The VaticanNews portal reports on a reflection delivered by Bishop Erik Varden during the 2026 Lenten Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican for antipope Leo XIV, cardinals, and heads of dicasteries. Varden’s theme, “The Fall of Thousands,” explores the concept of spiritual and communal “falls” within the Church, attributing the worst harm to internal corruption rather than external opposition. He cautions against simplistic searches for “diseased roots” in scandalized communities, noting that signs of inspiration and holiness can coexist with later warped developments. Using Bernard of Clairvaux’s interpretation of Psalm 90, he distinguishes between “carnal” and “spiritual” natures, suggesting that spiritual men are attacked more fiercely and that casualties are “more numerous on the right” where “lethal weapons” are used. He warns against dualism, urging integration of physical and spiritual selves, and emphasizes that spiritual integrity is evidenced in everyday habits like online behavior and comportment at table. The reflection avoids defining sin, grace, or the sacramental remedy, framing “falls” in psychological and communal terms rather than supernatural ones. This article embodies the post-conciliar church’s apostasy through its deliberate omission of Catholic supernaturalism, replacing the doctrine of sin and redemption with therapeutic moralizing.
Therapeutic Vagueness vs. Catholic Definition of Sin
Varden’s reflection operates on a fundamentally naturalistic plane. He speaks of “falls” that can “humble us when we are puffed up” or become “milestones on a personal journey of salvation,” reducing sin to a developmental setback or psychological humbling. This is a radical departure from Catholic theology, which defines sin as an offence against God, a violation of His eternal law, and a turning away from our ultimate end. The Syllabus of Errors condemns the notion that “moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction” (Error 56). Varden’s language of “falls” and “corruption” never ascends to the supernatural category of mortal sin, which destroys charity in the heart of man and cuts him off from God (Council of Trent, Session VI, Chapter 15). His omission of the necessary contrition, confession, and absolution through the sacrament of Penance is not incidental; it is the hallmark of the conciliar church’s systematic erasure of the supernatural. As St. Pius X taught in Pascendi Dominici gregis, Modernism “reduces the supernatural to the natural,” and here we see it in practice: a “fall” is a problem of personal integration, not an offence requiring the Blood of Christ applied through a valid sacrament.
Silence on the Sacramental Remedy and the State of Grace
The gravest theological bankruptcy lies in what is not said. Varden discusses “spiritual exposure” and the danger that it “will seek physical or affective release” but never mentions the sacraments as the ordinary means of grace to fortify the soul. There is no reference to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the propitiatory offering for sin, nor to the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch). This silence is a direct repudiation of Catholic doctrine. The Catechism of the Council of Trent states: “The Sacraments are necessary to salvation.” By ignoring the sacramental system, Varden preaches a religion of self-effort, a Pelagianism condemned by the Church. His advice to be “equally at ease in our carnal and spiritual nature” is New Age psychologizing, not Catholic asceticism, which demands the mortification of the flesh and the subjugation of the passions to reason enlightened by faith. The Encyclical Quas Primas of Pius XI, which the ARTICLE completely ignores, insists that Christ’s Kingship requires societies to be ordered by God’s commandments, beginning with the individual’s submission to the law of God—a law known, kept, and repaired through the Church’s sacraments.
Naturalistic Communitarianism vs. the Supernatural End of the Church
Varden’s focus on “corruption arisen within our own house” and the “wake” that “pulls in many innocents” frames the crisis as a sociological and relational failure. He seeks “delicate and more effective tools” than the secular mindset’s “monsters and victims,” yet his tools remain natural: “conversation,” “online habits,” “comportment at table.” This is the language of sociology, not theology. The Catholic Church, as defined by the Vatican Council I, is a supernatural society founded by Christ for the sanctification and salvation of souls. Its worst crisis is not “corruption” in the managerial sense, but apostasy and heresy, which sever the Mystical Body. The Syllabus of Errors condemns the idea that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55), but here the separation is more radical: the Church is separated from the supernatural. Varden’s analysis is entirely horizontal, ignoring the vertical relationship with God. He never invokes the final judgment, the reality of Hell, or the necessity of sanctifying grace. This omission is a tacit acceptance of the conciliar “humanism” that Pius XI warned against in Quas Primas: when “God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states,” the foundations of authority were destroyed. Here, God is removed from the very analysis of the Church’s crisis.
Pernicious Ambiguity and the Rejection of Dogmatic Clarity
Varden’s language is studiously vague. “Spiritual nature,” “contemplative maturing,” “existential hunger”—these are buzzwords of the post-conciliar aggiornamento, designed to mask doctrinal collapse. Compare this with the uncompromising clarity of St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu, which condemns the proposition that “the dogmas of faith should be understood according to their practical function, i.e., as binding in action, rather than as principles of belief” (Proposition 26). Varden’s entire reflection is about “function” and “integration,” not about belief in revealed truths. He never affirms that the Church is the sole ark of salvation, that outside the Church there is no salvation, or that the Mass is the true sacrifice offered to God. This ambiguity is not accidental; it is the essence of Modernism, which Pius X called the “synthesis of all heresies.” It allows the speaker to sound spiritual while emptying Catholic doctrine of its supernatural content.
The “Spiritual Battle” Without Christ the King
Varden invokes Bernard and Psalm 90 (“A thousand shall fall at your side…”) to speak of a spiritual battle where “lethal weapons” are used on the “right” (the spiritual side). Yet he completely divorces this battle from the kingship of Christ. Pius XI, in Quas Primas, declares that Christ’s reign “encompasses all human nature” and that “there is no power in us that is exempt from this reign.” The battle Varden describes, however, is waged without a King. There is no mention of Christ’s sovereign authority over minds, wills, and hearts; no call to publicly honor Christ as King of nations. Instead, the battle is an internal, psychological struggle for “integration.” This is a satanic inversion: the true battle is between the City of God and the City of Man, with Christ as King. By removing Christ’s social kingship, Varden reduces the conflict to a therapeutic process within the individual, perfectly aligning with the secularist errors condemned in the Syllabus (e.g., Error 39: “The State… is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits”).
Acceptance of the Conciliar Usurpation
By addressing antipope Leo XIV as “Pope” and participating in the Vatican exercises, Varden acknowledges the legitimacy of the conciliar hierarchy. From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this is a fatal error. As St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a manifest heretic loses his office automatically. The current occupiers of the Vatican have embraced the errors of Vatican II—religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality—all condemned in their essence by Pius IX’s Syllabus and St. Pius X’s Pascendi. Therefore, the entire structure Varden serves is sine titulo. His reflection, given under the auspices of an antipope, is a sermon in the “abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15). It offers no call to flee this false church, no warning about the invalid sacraments administered in the conciliar rite, and no defense of the immutable Latin Mass. Instead, it reinforces the occupants’ authority by providing them with spiritual nourishment—albeit a denatured, naturalistic version.
Conclusion: The Apostasy of Omission
Bishop Varden’s reflection is a masterclass in the apostasy of omission. It discusses “falls,” “corruption,” and “spiritual battle” while systematically excluding the core tenets of Catholic faith: the reality of sin as an offence against God, the necessity of sanctifying grace, the sacramental system instituted by Christ, the social reign of Christ the King, and the final judgment. It replaces the supernatural with the psychological, the dogmatic with the therapeutic, the hierarchical with the communal. This is precisely the “naturalistic humanism” Pius XI identified as the plague of secularism, now infiltrating the highest levels of the post-conciliar church. The only response from integral Catholics is to reject this false teaching, cling to the unchanging faith of pre-1958, and recognize that the true Church suffers in exile while the “conciliar sect” occupies the Vatican, preaching a religion without Christ.
Source:
Lenten Retreat: Bishop Varden on 'the fall of thousands' (vaticannews.va)
Date: 25.02.2026