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The Glorious Deception: Naturalistic Mysticism in the Conciliar Sect’s Lenten Exercises

Summary of the Conciliar Event

The Vatican News portal reports that “Bishop” Erik Varden delivered the seventh reflection at the 2026 Lenten Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican for “Pope” Leo XIV, “Cardinals” residing in Rome, and heads of “Dicasteries.” Varden’s talk, summarized in the article, focused on the theme of “Glory,” drawing on Scriptural passages (John 19:25-27), the Fathers (St. Bernard, St. Augustine), and references to sacramental “realism,” the “indissolubility of marriage,” and the “necessity of the Cross.” The article presents the event as a standard, if somewhat erudite, spiritual retreat within the post-conciliar “Church.”

The thesis is clear: this event, despite its use of traditional theological vocabulary, is a profound manifestation of the theological and spiritual bankruptcy of the conciliar sect. It represents the final stage of Modernism—the sacrilegious co-opting of Catholic terminology to lend credibility to an apostate structure that has definitively rejected the integral faith. The “glory” discussed is not the supernatural glory of the Beatific Vision, but a vague, immanentized “hidden glory” compatible with the naturalistic humanism of Vatican II.

1. Factual Level: The Illegitimate Foundation

The entire event is built upon a fundamental falsehood: the presumed legitimacy of the participants. “Pope Leo XIV” (Robert Prevost) is an antipope, as are all “pontiffs” since John XXIII. The “Cardinals” and “Bishops” in attendance are members of a paramasonic structure that has promulgated a new religion. As the Theological Notes from the Holy Office under St. Pius X condemned, the Church is a perfect society with inherent rights (Quas Primas explicitly defends this). The conciliar sect, by teaching religious liberty and ecumenism, has repudiated the unique, exclusive right of the Catholic Church to be the sole ark of salvation (cf. Quas Primas; Syllabus of Errors, Props. 15-18). Therefore, no legitimate “spiritual exercises” can occur within this framework. The very gathering is an act of schismatic worship, a synodal “synodos” that walked with Christ only to draw back at the “discourses about sacramental realism”—a hypocrisy, as they now profess a “sacramental realism” they have gutted through liturgical revolution and ecumenical dilution.

2. Linguistic Level: The Tone of Apostate Naturalism

Varden’s language, while quoting the Fathers, drips with the characteristic ambiguity of Modernism. Phrases like “hidden glory… perceptible even now” and “the Church… shows us that present mediocrity and despair… need not be final” shift the focus from the supernatural necessity of grace and the Sacraments to a vague, Pelagian optimism about human potential. This is the “hermeneutics of continuity” in action: using traditional terms to describe a post-conciliar reality where the telos is no longer the salvation of souls but human flourishing within a pluralistic world. The article’s description of the Mass as an experience where a priest feels “death would really be no tragedy” after “offering Mass” reduces the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary to a therapeutic, aesthetic experience—a quintessential expression of the “cult of man” condemned by Pius XI in Ubi arcano and Pius X in Pascendi Dominici gregis. The silence on the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead, on the Real Presence as the central object of adoration, and on the eternal consequences of sacrilege is deafening. This is not Catholic piety; it is the mysticism of the abomination of desolation.

3. Theological Level: Confrontation with Unchanging Doctrine

Every positive element in Varden’s reflection is subverted by the context of its delivery.

* **On Sacramental Realism:** The article states Varden reflected on “sacramental realism.” But the conciliar sect’s sacraments are, with few exceptions, invalid due to defective form, matter, and intention. The “confessional” light mentioned is not the light of sacramental absolution but the subjective feeling of a “pastoral” encounter in a “reconciliation room.” The “anointing” is not Extreme Unction but a vague “sacrament of the sick” focused on psychological comfort. The “ordination” is not the consecration of a sacrificing priest but the installation of a “presbyter” or “minister.” The “wedding” is not the Sacrament of Matrimony but a natural contract blessed by the Church. To speak of “glory” channeled through these pseudo-sacraments is blasphemous. The true Sacraments, as defined by the Council of Trent and reaffirmed by Pius IX in Tuas libenter (condemning the error that sacraments are mere reminders), confer sanctifying grace ex opere operato. The conciliar “sacraments,” even if valid (which is doubtful in many cases), are administered by heretics and schismatics, rendering them illicit and, for the recipient, often sacrilegious if received without necessity and with full knowledge of the apostasy.

* **On the Indissolubility of Marriage:** Mentioning this while the conciliar sect’s “Synod on the Family” and “Amoris Laetitia” have opened the door to Communion for adulterers is a cruel mockery. Pius IX’s Syllabus condemned the error that “the marriage tie is not indissoluble” (Prop. 67). The current “popes” and “bishops” have systematically undermined this doctrine through practice and ambiguous teaching, proving they are not Catholic.

* **On the Cross and Kenosis:** Varden speaks of Christ’s “kenosis” and “glorification” on the Cross. But the conciliar sect preaches a “Crucifix without the Cross,” a Christ who died for us but did not establish a visible, hierarchical Church to which all must submit for salvation. They omit the crushing weight of the Cross as the only means of redemption and the only path to glory. They omit that Christ’s kingship is not a spiritualized metaphor but a real, juridical authority over nations, as defined by Pius XI in Quas Primas: “His reign… extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians.” The conciliar sect, in preaching “religious liberty,” has explicitly denied this royal dignity, placing the “Church” on equal footing with false religions. This is the “betrayal of human loyalties” Varden mentions—but the betrayers are the conciliar “hierarchy” themselves, who have handed over the Mystical Body to the “synodos” of the world.

* **On Augustine and Bernard:** Quoting these Doctors is an act of supreme hypocrisy. Augustine taught that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation (De Baptismo, IV, 10). Bernard of Clairvaux was a champion of papal authority and a critic of laxity. Their writings are being used as decorative ornaments for a theology that rejects the exclusive salvific mission of the Church and the absolute authority of the Pope as Vicar of Christ. This is the “development of doctrine” of Modernism condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu (Props. 54-55): dogmas evolve into something unrecognizable.

4. Symptomatic Level: The Conciliar Revolution’s Final Form

This event is not an anomaly; it is the logical culmination of the conciliar revolution.

* **The Silence on Christ the King:** The most glaring omission is any reference to the social reign of Christ the King, the central theme of Pius XI’s Quas Primas, instituted precisely to combat the secularism that now defines the conciliar sect. Pius XI wrote: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” He condemned those who “conceived that the divine religion should be replaced by a natural religion.” Yet Varden’s “glory” is entirely interiorized, a private mystical experience. There is no call for states to recognize Christ’s authority, no condemnation of the secularism that removes God from public life. This is the “diversion from apostasy” noted in the False Fatima file: focusing on internal, subjective “glory” while the world apostatizes from Christ’s social kingship. The “Church” of the conciliar sect has become a spiritual NGO, precisely as condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus (Prop. 19: “The Church is not a true and perfect society…”).

* **The Hermeneutics of Continuity in Action:** The article exemplifies the “hermeneutics of continuity” by presenting Varden’s talk as a seamless part of Catholic tradition. But the continuity is false. The pre-conciliar Church taught that the “glory” of the Church is the salvation of souls through the exclusive means of the Sacraments administered by a hierarchical priesthood, all for the ultimate end of the Beatific Vision. The post-conciliar “Church” teaches that “glory” is found in interreligious dialogue, ecological stewardship, and personal “encounter” with Christ in a “field hospital” for sinners. The terminology overlaps, but the substance is antithetical. This is the “synthesis of all errors” (Pius X, Pascendi)—Modernism—which “consists in the complete transformation of the very idea of religion.”

* **The Role of the “Bishop”:** Erik Varden, a Trappist monk appointed “bishop” of Trondheim by Francis, is a perfect symbol of the new “Church.” He is a “bishop” who speaks beautifully about monastic tradition and patristics while serving an apostate regime. His “preaching” to the “Pope” and “Curia” is a theatrical performance, a liturgical drama designed to give the illusion of continuity. It is the “disinformation strategy” of the False Fatima file applied to theology: stage the performance of tradition while the substance is radically altered. His “hidden glory” theology is the perfect complement to the “hidden” (i.e., non-dogmatic, evolving) Church of Vatican II.

Conclusion: The Call to Integral Catholic Faith

The article describes a ritual of the conciliar sect. The participants are schismatics and heretics. The “glory” they contemplate is a naturalistic, immanentist substitute for the supernatural glory of God. The sacraments they reference are, in the main, invalid or illicit. The entire exercise is a satanic parody of Catholic spirituality, designed to anesthetize the faithful to the reality of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place.

The unchanging, integral Catholic faith, as defined before the death of Pius XII in 1958, demands a complete rupture with this system. The “Church” that occupies the Vatican is a “conciliar sect,” a “neo-church” in open rebellion against the exclusive sovereignty of Christ the King and the immutable dogmas of the faith. The only “glory” that matters is the glory of the Holy Trinity, manifested in the Incarnation, and to be possessed only by those who are in the state of grace within the true Church, outside of which there is no salvation (Pius IX, Quanto conficiamur; Pius XI, Mortalium Animos). The “hidden glory” of which Augustine spoke is the sanctifying grace that makes us children of God, a grace received through the valid sacraments of the true Church—not through the pseudo-sacraments of the conciliar apostates.

The faithful are called to reject this entire spectacle. They must flee the “neo-church” and its “spiritual exercises,” which are but “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). They must seek refuge in the immemorial Tradition, in the true Mass and true sacraments administered by bishops and priests in communion with the See of Peter as it existed before the apostasy. The “glory” of the Church is not found in the Vatican’s synods but in the catacombs of the true faith. Let those who have ears to hear, hear: “Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins” (Apoc. 18:4).

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Source:
Lenten Retreat: Bishop Varden reflects on 'Glory'   (vaticannews.va)
Date: 25.02.2026