Bishop Sanborn: Vatican 2 Error Concerning the Nature of God and His Relationship to Man
The Fundamental Theological Error of Vatican II
Bishop Donald Sanborn argues that the central heresy of Vatican II is its denial that the Catholic Church is exclusively the one true Church of Christ. Instead, Vatican II introduced the idea that the "Church of Christ" subsists in rather than is the Catholic Church, implying that salvation and divine truth can be found in other religions such as the Church of England or the Greek Orthodox Church. This doctrinal shift, articulated in Lumen Gentium, underpins Vatican II’s errors and paves the way for religious indifferentism and false ecumenism.
Bishop Sanborn then traces the foundation of this error to a deeper theological crisis: the modernist rejection of the distinction between the natural and supernatural orders. The Catholic Church traditionally teaches that:
God exists in the supernatural order, uncreated and infinite.
Man and all creation exist in the natural order, completely distinct from God.
The only way man can participate in the supernatural order is through sanctifying grace, given by God through the Catholic Church.
Salvation is possible only through baptism and adherence to the one true Church.
Vatican II and modernism, however, deny these distinctions. They claim that God is already present in all men in a supernatural way, leading to two major heresies:
The Deification of Man – If God is naturally present in all men, then man does not need grace, baptism, or the Catholic Church to attain union with Him. This leads to secular humanism, moral relativism, and the rejection of divine law.
The Humanization of God – If God is merely part of humanity, then traditional worship and doctrine become irrelevant. This results in a man-centered religion, an emphasis on subjective experience over dogma, and a desacralization of the liturgy.
Bishop Sanborn highlights how these errors have transformed Catholic morality and worship, replacing objective divine truth with modernist ideals such as environmentalism, globalism, and human rights activism. The Novus Ordo liturgy reflects this shift by abandoning reverence, beauty, and sacrifice in favor of casualness, dialogue, and emotional experience.
The bishop concludes by stating that these theological errors lead directly to Vatican II’s embrace of false ecumenism, which will be addressed in his next sermon.
Key Quotes from Bishop Sanborn’s Sermon
“The great heresy of Vatican II is that it has denied the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is exclusively the Church of Christ.”
This is a direct contradiction of pre-Vatican II doctrine, which always affirmed that the Catholic Church alone is the Mystical Body of Christ.
“Creatures of the natural order cannot in any way attain to a participation in the supernatural order unless God should raise them to that level by sanctifying grace.”
Undermining this distinction between nature and grace is the root error of modernism.
“Since God is in all men, he is discovered, the modernists say, by dialogue.”
A rejection of traditional Catholic teaching, which holds that God is discovered through divine revelation, not subjective experience.
“The great moral concerns today are not abortion, contraception, or the salvation of souls, but environmentalism, globalism, and wealth redistribution.”
Modernist morality shifts from divine law to secular concerns.
“In the Catholic Church, the best is given to God. In the Novus Ordo, God is treated as one of us.”
The loss of reverence in modern worship stems from the modernist view that God is merely part of humanity.
Analysis
1. Vatican II’s Heresy on the Church
The most glaring error of Vatican II is its teaching that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church (Lumen Gentium, §8). This contradicts the perennial teaching that the Catholic Church is the one true Church outside of which there is no salvation (extra Ecclesiam nulla salus).
“There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Lateran IV, 1215)
“The Church is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic; she is the Mystical Body of Christ.” (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943)
By allowing the possibility of salvation outside the Catholic Church, Vatican II promotes religious indifferentism, which was explicitly condemned by Pope Pius IX in Quanta Cura (1864) and Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos (1928).
2. Modernism: The Root of Vatican II’s Errors
Modernism, condemned as “the synthesis of all heresies” by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), is the underlying philosophy behind Vatican II.
Modernists reject the supernatural order, making religion a matter of personal experience rather than divine revelation.
They deny objective truth, leading to doctrinal relativism.
They claim all religions contain truth, justifying false ecumenism and interfaith dialogue.
This explains why Vatican II abandoned traditional Catholic theology in favor of humanistic ideals.
3. The Deification of Man
By placing God within all men, modernism makes divine grace unnecessary. This leads to:
The rejection of divine law (e.g., approval of abortion, contraception, and divorce).
The prioritization of secular moral concerns (environmentalism, globalism, human rights).
The adoption of Freemasonic ideals of human brotherhood, replacing Catholic dogma with a one-world humanist religion.
This aligns with the warnings of Pope Leo XIII in Humanum Genus (1884), where he condemned Freemasonry’s attempt to replace Catholicism with a secular religion of man.
4. The Destruction of Catholic Worship
The Novus Ordo liturgy reflects modernist theology:
The Mass is no longer a sacrifice, but a communal gathering.
Sacred music is replaced with profane styles, destroying reverence.
Churches are stripped of beauty, mirroring Protestant meeting halls.
The priest faces the people, shifting focus away from God.
These changes fulfill the modernist goal of reducing God to man’s level, making Catholic worship indistinguishable from Protestant services. Sedevacantists reject the Novus Ordo as an invalid, man-made rite.
Takeaways & Final Conclusions
Vatican II is heretical – It denies the exclusivity of the Catholic Church and promotes indifferentism.
Modernism is the root error – It distorts Catholic doctrine by denying objective truth and supernatural reality.
Man is deified – The post-Vatican II Church elevates humanity above God, leading to secular humanism.
The liturgy has been desacralized – The Novus Ordo aligns with Protestant and modernist principles.
The only solution is the complete rejection of Vatican II – True Catholics must hold fast to pre-Vatican II doctrine and resist the false Vatican II hierarchy.
This analysis reaffirms the sedevacantist position:
Vatican II contradicts prior Catholic dogma, proving it is a false council.
The post-Vatican II “popes” have abandoned the true faith, making them illegitimate.
The only path forward is to reject Vatican II, the Novus Ordo, and the modernist hierarchy, adhering strictly to pre-Vatican II Catholicism.
This expanded version strengthens the theological and historical foundation of the analysis while making it clearer and more compelling. Let me know if you’d like further refinements.
