Pro multis
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Pro multis is a Latin phrase that means "for many" or "for the many". Not having the definite article, Latin does not distinguish between these two meanings.
The phrase is part of the longer phrase "qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum" (which will be shed for you and for (the) many for remission of sins) used, with reference to the blood of Christ, in the consecration of the wine in the Roman Rite Mass.
In Latin, "multi" (many) is opposed to "pauci" (few), not to "omnes" (all). "Many" does not mean "all", nor does it mean "not all". In a large group, all the members are many; in a small group, all are few.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Latin-speaker who is considered to be the pre-eminent Catholic theologian, did not understood the phrase "pro multis" as meaning "not for all". Instead, he understood the phrase "pro vobis et pro multis" as covering all mankind, explaining "pro vobis" (for you) as referring to the Jews, "pro multis" as referring to the Gentiles.[1]
However, in languages that have the definite article, people tend to interpret "for many" in a limiting sense, as if the blood of Christ were shed not for all but only for some. To avoid this misunderstanding, "pro multis" was generally translated in those languages, including English, as "for all".
On 17 October 2006, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments sent a circular (No. 467/05/L) to Presidents of Episcopal Conferences on the question of the translation of "pro multis". The Congregation first recalled the 25 January 1974 declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that there is no doubt whatsoever regarding the validity of Masses celebrated using "for all" as a translation of "pro multis", since "for all" corresponds to a correct interpretation of Christ's intention expressed in the words of the consecration, and since it is a dogma of the Catholic faith that Christ died on the Cross for all (cf. John 11:52, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Titus 2:11, 1 John 2:2). However, the Congregation pointed out that "for all" is not a literal translation of the words that Matthew 26:28 and Mark 14:24 report that Jesus used at the Last Supper and of the words used in the Latin text of the Roman Mass; "for all" is rather an explanation of the sort that belongs properly to catechesis. After making these and other observations, the Congregation told the Episcopal Conferences to make an effort, in line with the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, to translate the words "pro multis" more faithfully and to prepare the faithful for the introduction, when the next translation of the Roman Missal has been approved by the Conferences and examined by the Holy See, of a precise vernacular translation of the phrase.
