Understanding
What is the FSSP?
Founded in 1988 by priests who wanted the Traditional Latin Mass without leaving communion with Rome — the direct answer to the question the SSPX raises.
What it is
The Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) is a society of priests dedicated entirely to the Traditional Latin Mass and the sacraments in their traditional form. It was founded in October 1988, weeks after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's unauthorized episcopal consecrations (see our explainer on the SSPX), by priests and seminarians who wanted the same traditional liturgy without breaking communion with Rome.
How it's different from the SSPX
Rome, through Pope John Paul II, responded to the 1988 split by inviting exactly this: priests attached to the older Mass who wished to remain fully united to the Holy See. The FSSP was formally recognized within days of that invitation. It is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right — fully regular, no unsettled canonical status, no ambiguity about its standing. Where the SSPX's situation is genuinely complicated, the FSSP's is not: it is simply a normal part of the Church's structure that happens to offer only the older Mass.
Where to find it
The FSSP runs parishes, chapels, and a seminary (in Bavaria, Germany, with a second in Nebraska in the United States), and many locations in this directory are FSSP parishes.
What next
What is the SSPX?
The society that split from Rome in 1988 — and hasn't fully returned.
Find a Latin Mass
Search by city, diocese, country, or your location.
Is the Traditional Latin Mass banned?
Summorum Pontificum, Traditionis Custodes, and what changed.
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