Institute of the Good Shepherd (Institut du Bon Pasteur)

The Institute of the Good Shepherd (Institut du Bon Pasteur, IBP) is a society of priests who use the traditional Roman liturgy exclusively. It was founded in 2006 by a small group of priests who had all belonged to the Society of St. Pius X, led by Fr. Philippe Laguérie, who became its first superior general (CNA via EWTN News; Wikipedia). Published sources give different dates in the autumn of 2006 for its formal establishment. Its mother house is the church of Saint-Éloi in central Bordeaux, where Laguérie became pastor of a personal parish in 2007 (Wikipedia).

Size and leadership. The Institute's website and Wikipedia both give its strength as 62 priests in 2024 (IBP; Wikipedia). Fr. Luis Gabriel Barrero Zabaleta has been superior general since 2019 (GCatholic; IBP). In August 2026 InfoVaticana reported that the Institute was opening an apostolate in the Archdiocese of Moncton, Canada, with the archbishop's public welcome (InfoVaticana).

Context. With the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, the IBP is one of the communities commonly grouped as "Ecclesia Dei" institutes: priestly societies in full communion with the Holy See whose members use the 1962 liturgical books (see Ecclesia Dei communities). That status distinguishes it from the Society of St. Pius X, from which its founders came and which the Holy See declared in schism in July 2026.