According to the traditionalist priestly community, the dates and further details of the investigation are not yet known.
"As the prefect of this dicastery himself explained to the superior general and his assistants at a meeting in Rome, this visitation will not be based on any problems of the fraternity. It is to enable the Dicastery to know who we are, how we are and how we live, in order to give us all the help we need," reads the Declaration of the Community.
The Fraternity of St Peter was last visited by the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" in 2014.
There is no fixed visitation cycle for religious communities.
For the past three years, the Dicastery for Religious has been responsible for the communities that previously fell under the remit of the "Ecclesia Dei" Commission of the former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The commission was established in 1988 in connection with the schism of the Society of St Pius X and was responsible for the restoration of ecclesial communion with traditionalist groups.
It was also responsible for overseeing organisations that celebrate the pre-conciliar liturgy in communion with the Church, including the Society of St Peter.
In 2019, Pope Francis abolished the commission and initially transferred its tasks directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In 2021, with the Motu Proprio "Traditionis Custodes" he transferred responsibility to the Dicastery for Religious.
In 2022, the Pope issued a decree authorising the community to continue to use the pre-conciliar liturgical books in full. liturgical books.
The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter was founded in 1988 as a reaction to the unauthorised episcopal ordinations by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in the Society of St. Peter.
The Society of Apostolic Life of Clerics of Pontifical Right is in full communion with the Church.
The Generalate of the Society of St Peter is in Fribourg in Switzerland, the seat of the German-speaking district is in Opfenbach-Wigratzbad (district of Lindau, diocese of Augsburg), where the largest of the Society's three seminaries is located.