As a Catholic faith community, ours is a rich heritage, in which we continue to be moved by God's love through Christ, to receive Him and His love manifestly through the Living Word and Sacraments of the Church. The Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities has its roots in the earliest and most authentic Catholic faith communities. Our Apostolic Succession can be documented and traced back prior to the beginning of the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Churches as we know them today, to a time when there was one, undivided, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, led by the Apostles themselves.

The Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities exists in tandem with, but canonically independent of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Old Catholic Communions, and is recognised as being valid by those three bodies under canon law. Our autocephalous character was granted by Blessed Pope Eugene III, in A.D. 1145, who gave the Cathedral Chapter of Utrecht the right to elect successors to the Apostolic See of Utrecht in times of vacancy, without requiring permission or approval from the Roman Pontiff. This privilege was confirmed by the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215.

This canonically autonomous character was further demonstrated when a second grant by Pope Leo X, "Debitum Pastoralis," conceded to Philip of Burgundy, 57th Bishop of Utrecht, that "neither he nor his successors, nor any of their clergy or laity, should ever, in the first instance, have his cause evoked to any external tribunal, not even under pretense of any apostolic letters whatever; and that all such proceedings should be, ipso facto, null and void." This irrevocable papal concession, made in 1520, is the foundation of our independent character and autocephalous governance to the present day.

The Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities is recognised, therefore as present day successor of the historic Catholic Church and its undivided apostolic tradition, committed to helping others with us in the life-long pursuit of a deepening personal relationship with the Most Blessed and Consubstantial Trinity, through Jesus Christ.

As Catholics and Apostolic descendants of Italian Franciscan archbishop, ‡Carmel Henry Carfora, and the example of the first Franciscan Mariavite Catholic, Mother Marie-Françoise, the Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities responds to the call of Christ to proclaim the Gospel through Word, Sacrament and Service.

In 2004, the Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities called the Very Reverend Father Francis-Maria Salvato, S.F.I. to be consecrated in the Succession of the Apostles, to serve as the Exarch and Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities and the Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities. Archbishop ‡Michael V. Seneco, C.T.M., presided, and Bishop †Carlos Harvin and Bishop †Michael J. Carroll, O.S.P. co-consecrated.

The Church also affirms the primacy of conscience and the formation of right conscience. Mindful of the present divisions within the Body of Christ, the Apostolic Society of Franciscan Communities remains faithful to the teachings of Our Lord concerning the peace and unity of the Kingdom of God, and is therefore aware of its role in furthering ecumenical relationships.