together in the interaction
Dr Tamara Scheer, private lecturer at the Institute for Eastern European History at the University of Vienna, will speak on the topic: ‘Linguistic diversity in the Roman Catholic Church in Austria-Hungary’. The focus will be on the 19th/20th century, with particular attention to ecclesiastical institutions.
On 21 November, the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger/Benedetto XVI, in collaboration with the RIGG, will present the autobiographical volume of Ratzinger's collected works and another Ratzinger biography at the Campo Santo Teutonico.
On 29–30 January 2026, the Department of Biblical Studies and Historical Theology at the University of Innsbruck, the Austrian Historical Institute in Rome and the RIGG are hosting a symposium on linguistic diversity in the late Habsburg Empire. Church institutions such as seminaries, parishes and religious orders play a special role in the question of national and practical implications. The main organiser is PD Dr Tamara Scheer (Vienna).
Topic: "Lasst den Muezzin auf dem Minarett!" - Friedrich II. und der Islam (mit einem Exkurs über die Religiosität des staufischen Kaisers)".
The German-Italian medievalist Prof. Dr. Hubert Houben (Lecce) has published numerous works on the Italian Middle Ages, including the booklet Die Normannen (The Normans), published by Beck-Verlag for a general audience. He is a member of the National Academy ‘dei Lincei’ in Rome, Italy's most prestigious academy.
The RIGG program of conferences for the actual academic year 2025/26 is ready for you. We look forward to your participation. You are also welcome to advertise in your circle of friends. Probably the lectures will also be transmitted via zoom. Of course, the year will again conclude with the summer festival "The last speaker".
The conference "Popes and Paraments from Julius II to Benedict XVI - Textiles, Texts and Contexts from Six Centuries" will take place at Campo Santo Teutonico from 26 to 29 November 2025. The conference is being organised by Prof. Dr. Dr. Jörg Bölling (Hildesheim) in collaboration with Stefan Heid.
Dr Gabriel Steinschulte (Cologne), who worked for many years in Rome at the Osservatore Romano and at the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music and until last year was conductor of the Schola Cantorum Coloniensis, will speak on the topic: ‘The commitment of the Council prelate Johannes Overath (1913-2002) to Musica Sacra and the Campo Santo Teutonico’.
The conference report of the conference ‘Time, Space and Calendar in Late Antique Rome’ organised by the University of Augsburg and written by Eric Klassen (Augsburg) has now been published on the H-Soz-Kult platform. The conference took place in November last year in co-operation with the RIGG and will be published in the supplement series of the Römische Quartalschrift.
Prof Dr Arnd Uhle (Leipzig) will speak on the topic: ‘Church financing in Europe: Notes on the forms of financing in the present’.
Arnd Uhle is a professor of constitutional law at the University of Leipzig and a constitutional judge of the Free State of Saxony. He is Head of the Law and Political Science Section of the Görres Society and a member of the Board of Directors of the Roman Institute of the Görres Society.
Dr Ruth Slenczka is an art and church historian and has been Director of the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald since 2022. She will be speaking on the topic of ‘The presence of history in Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)’. The Romantic painter Friedrich was born in Greifswald; his 250th birthday was celebrated in 2024.
Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft
