University of Freiburg Faculty of Theology

The suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773 and the reforms introduced by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her Son Joseph II led to an extensive modernization and reorganization of the faculty.

The Faculty of Theology attracted renowned theologians throughout this time such as Johann Leonhard Hug and Franz Xaver Kraus.

During the Third Reich, three professors were forced to lay down their teaching privileges and retire and the faculty was briefly closed with the start of World War II in 1939.

In the decades after World War II, a number of influential thinkers such as Bernhard Welte, Alfons Deissler, and Anton Vögtle worked and taught in Freiburg, helping to further cement the faculty's stellar reputation.

The Faculty of Theology has a long list of renowned alumni, among them Desiderius Erasmus, Daniel Ciobotea, Josef Frings, Georg Gänswein, Romano Guardini, Karl Lehmann, Franz Anton Staudenmaier, Robert Zollitsch, and recently elected Pope Francis.