Friedrich von Hügel was an influential Austrian Catholic layman, religious writer, and Christian apologist. Although classified with Modernists due to his friendships with Alfred Loisy and George Tyrrell, von Hügel rejected the Modernist theory of belief.

Modernism in the Catholic Church describes attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture, specifically an understanding of the Bible and Catholic tradition in light of the historical-critical method and new philosophical and political developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.