What Was Maria Theresa's Approach To Religion?

It was with great reluctance that the devoutly Catholic Empress was forced to strip the Church of its economic privileges. Kaunitz and the future Joseph II realised that the power of the RC Church's grip on schools, universities, the pulpit and the press. Joseph was able to cut Austria's links with Rome and decrease the Church's power within the Austrian monarchy when Maria Theresa became too old to carry out reforms. Some of the policies introduced included the taxing of clergy without papal approval, the dissolving of some monasteries, the inspection of church property, the forbidding of Jesuits to conduct visitations of Austrian monasteries and the removal of the right of sanctuary from some churches.

Maria's opposition to the claim that Protestants were good for trade was ignored with the increased toleration of non-Catholic Christians. But, in 1777, Maria Theresa put forward an edict which forbade any Jew to settle in Vienna without written permission. Her reforms were unsuccessful and created further divisions.

Judging by the reform she made, it is doubtful whether Maria Theresa of Austria was either enlightened or a despot. Her reign had been dominated by the figure of Fredrick the Great who threatened her state with extinction within weeks of her accession. He also deprived the empress of her most valuable province and obliged her to institute reforms in order to preserve her state.

It is also evident that most of Maria Theresa's reforms were not her own. Although she showed a good judge of character and expertise in appointing her advisors, Hugwitz and Kaunitz, she was very easy to manipulate. Indeed, many of the reforms were done against the wishes of Maria Theresa herself, most noticeably the curbing of the power of the Church introduced by Joseph. These reforms were very reluctantly accepted by the Empress, as she was a devout Roman Catholic and did not want to interfere with the Church's power. All of the reforms introduced were very Enlightened although some had small elements of enlightened ideas.