How did the legal, social and political role of the Catholic Church in the Habsburg Empire change from the Josephinist period of Staatskirchentum to the constitutional age after the Ausgleich? What strategies were used by the Hofburg and the Austrian and Hungarian governments to exert a decisive influence on the appointment of ecclesiastical dignitaries? How did the Holy See relate to the Empire in general or its provinces and lands in particular? How to reassess the function and importance of the bishop’s oath of allegiance within the complex church-state relationship? These (and other) questions were addressed by the members of the Negotiating Sovereignty ERC research group led by András Fejérdy at the conference and workshop on April 10, 2025 at the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology in Târgu Mureş, Romania.

In his presentation, András Fejérdy analyzed documents of the Holy See that reflected on  Josephinist church policies (1781-1782). Katalin Pataki reviewed issues related to the introduction and practice of the bishop’s oath of allegiance until 1848. Tomasz Hen-Konarski explored the imperial and Galician regional context of the unsuccessful Greek Catholic mission to Dalmatia in 1819-1823. In his paper, Miklós Tömöry interpreted practices of the oath of allegiance in the two parts of the Empire, in light of the negotiations with Rome after the Austro-Hungarian settlement.

Although primary topics of the conference included state-church relations in the Habsburg Empire, members of the research team and other participating historians from Romania presented their 20th century historical research in four presentations. Agáta Šústová Drelová reflected on the political and national identity of the Catholic high clergy in the Czechoslovak Republic between the two world wars. Ionuţ Biliuță (Gheorghe Şincai Socio-Human Research Institute) analyzed the debates on the Concordat in the Kingdom of Romania. Željko Oset presented on the importance of the Keston Archive at Baylor University in Waco TX for research on the church policies of the communist regimes in East Central Europe. Cristian Vasile (Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, Bucharest) discussed issues of transitional justice regarding the Roman and Greek Catholic Church in Romania.

Prior to the conference, a regular workshop of the research team has been held, where its members were planning the activities of the upcoming period - in particular the conference that will take place in Budapest in early June.

We would like to thank George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, Gheorghe Şincai Social-Human Research Institute and our colleague Anca Şincan for their help in organizing the event.

Follow the updates on the Sovereignty project on their website and Facebook page.