Katholische Pfadfinderschaft Europas - Österreich (KPE-Ö) is an Austrian sister organization which works closely with its German counterpart.

The KPE describes its activities as follows: "By our education according to the scouting method, we promote the development of the entire person of girls and boys.

Its founding members had left the Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg because they felt that their ideas about Scouting and spirituality had been disregarded in the reforms of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1977, the Fédération du Scoutisme Européen (FSE), predecessor of the Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d’Europe, admitted the KPE as full member.

Some local groups left the KPE in 1986 because of its rigid structure and founded a new Scouting organization, the Europapfadfinder Sankt Michael.

After press reports on the KPE membership of one superior of the seminary in St. Pölten during the St. Pölten pornography scandal the Conference of the German Bishops reiterated that the KPE is not recognized by the Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend, the union of recognised Catholic youth organizations in Germany.

During my activities as director for the episcopal youth office over the last seven years, I have experienced the cooperation with the KPE to be extremely good and transparent.

[12] During his pastoral experience as cathedral prelate in Mainz, Guido Becker described the activities of the KPE as “ray of light in dark times”.