Pope Pius V on Extent of the atonement
Sufficient for all, efficient for the elect
For if we look to its value, we must confess that the Redeemer shed His blood for the salvation of all; but if we look to the fruit which mankind have received from it, we shall easily find that it pertains not unto all, but to many of the human race.
THE POSITION
Sufficient for all, efficacious for many. Explaining why the words over the chalice say "for many" and not "for all", the catechism distinguishes the blood's value, which reaches every human being, from its fruit, which does not. Article IV says the same from the other side: in his Passion the Son "intended to atone for and blot out the sins of all ages." The distinction answers a question about the words of consecration, not the later argument over the extent of the atonement, but it is the sufficient-efficient formula in substance.
28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
4 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Michele Ghislieri, a Dominican friar and inquisitor, was pope from 1566 to 1572 and carried the Council of Trent's decrees into practice. Under his authority came the Roman Catechism (1566), the reformed Breviary (1568) and Missal (1570), and the bull Ex omnibus afflictionibus (1567) on the teaching of Michael Baius; he also named Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church. He wrote little theology of his own, so this entry rests on what he promulgated: the Roman Catechism, read in the McHugh and Callan translation, a commission's work issued by his order, and the 1567 bull in Deferrari's translation of Denzinger.
Cite this page
"Pope Pius V on Extent of the atonement", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/pius-v/atonement-extent (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/pius-v/atonement-extent).