The Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies is a component of the University of Zagreb, which is organized and operates in accordance with its own statute, approved by the Senate of the University of Zagreb, and in accordance with state and academic acts of the Republic of Croatia. As a religious institution, the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies operates in accordance with the canon law of the Catholic Church and the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis gaudium.
The Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences, which until its entry into the University of Zagreb was called the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus, was founded and approved by the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education (Italian: Congregazione per l’Educazione Cattolica / dei Seminari e degli Istituti di Studi) by decree of July 31, 1989. Thus, the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus continued the long-lasting, and for a long time formal university tradition of the Society of Jesus in teaching philosophy in Zagreb, which began on November 6, 1662. It continued with the founding of the University of Zagreb (1669), which until the abolition of the Society (1773) was run by the Jesuits who taught philosophy there. After the re-establishment of the Society (1814) and their return to Zagreb, the Jesuits, faithful to their tradition of teaching philosophy, founded the Philosophical Institute in 1937 with a three-year study program, and in 1953, the Theological Studies, which then act completely separately as the Philosophical and Theological Institute of the Society of Jesus. In 1983, the Congregation for Catholic Education in the Vatican formally recognized the activity of the Philosophical Study and affiliated it to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Based on the work and progress of the Philosophical Study, the same Congregation, by its decree of 31 July 1989, raised the Philosophical Study to the level of the Faculty of Philosophy siti iuris with the right to award degrees in philosophy in the name and authority of the Holy See.
On February 8, 1994, the Senate of the University of Zagreb passed a decision by which the study programs of philosophy and religious culture of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus were conducted within the Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb. On October 16, 1997, the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus signed an agreement on long-term scientific-teaching cooperation which would regulate relations between the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb until it became part of the University of Zagreb. The Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus developed new study programs in accordance with legal provisions and received valid permits.
The process of including the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb as an institution within the University of Zagreb, under a new name as the “Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences”, was initiated on March 23, 2015, with the Letter of expectation in the process of re-accreditation of the University of Zagreb for performing part of the activities through the University Center of Croatian Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus. In this letter, based on the opinion of the International Accreditation Commission, prof. dr. sc. Vedran Mornar, the Minister of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia at that time, asked the rector of the University of Zagreb prof. dr. sc. Damir Boras to resolve the status of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus within the prescribed autonomy of the University. The process was completed by the decision of the Senate and the signing of the Agreement. On July 29, 2016, based on the Decision of the Senate of the University of Zagreb of December 8, 2015, the contract was co-signed by prof. dr. sc. Damir Boras, Rector of the University of Zagreb, and RP Ante Tustonjić, Provincial of the Croatian Province of the Society of Jesus in his capacity as the Deputy Grand Chancellor of the Faculty.