Pope Leo XIV will spend the first full week of Lent on retreat – often termed “spiritual exercises” – with senior officials of the Roman Curia. This retreat is noteworthy in terms of the practice itself, the preacher, and the place. All three tell us something about the emerging shape of Leo’s pontificate. With regard to the preacher, Pope Leo made a bold choice, choosing Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway, the Trappist monk who is one of the world’s leading spiritual authors. A Norwegian Lutheran who converted to Catholicism while studying at Cambridge, Bishop Varden was elected abbot of his English abbey at age 39.
