Pope Pius V on Perseverance & eternal security
Yes — real apostasy is possible
As he who suffers shipwreck has no hope of safety, unless, perchance, he seize on some plank from the wreck, so he that suffers the shipwreck of baptismal innocence, unless he cling to the saving plank of Penance, has doubtless lost all hope of salvation.
THE POSITION
Yes. Baptismal grace can be lost by grave sin, and one who loses it and does not repent loses salvation. The catechism uses Jerome's image of Penance as the second plank after a shipwreck, and quotes Trent: for those who fall into sin after baptism, Penance "is as necessary to salvation as is Baptism" for the unbaptised. The language of perseverance as a distinct gift, which Trent also uses, was not found in the sections read, so `persev-gift` was not assigned.
3 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
5 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 Perseverance & eternal security", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/pius-v/perseverance (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/pius-v/perseverance).