Terence Sweeney

Catholic.
Writer at large. Professor at Villanova. Philosopher and theologian in the world. Pa at home.

[Terence Sweeney @TerenceJSweeney]

"Love is as much shown in small acts of care and attention as it is in big words and bold deeds."

https://t.co/lfdZN8LtWa

[Terence Sweeney @TerenceJSweeney]

Hard to imagine a more complimentary action than when students who have already had me as a professor sign up to take another (or a third!) class with me. A reminder of how wonderful this vocation of teaching is.

[Ines San Martin @inesanma]

I am struggling, perhaps more than at any point since joining this platform and becoming a Vaticanista, to find the words for what we lived tonight.

Pope Leo XIV met with more than a million young people in Buenos Aires just now.

He listened to a young man who overcame drug addiction after the Church welcomed him, fed him and gave him somewhere to sleep. He listened to a young woman who resisted, and then freely embraced, her vocation to religious life — discovering that what she had considered arriving too late was really the story of “a God who knows how to wait.”

He kissed babies. He listened as young Argentines sang beloved Catholic songs such as “Maranatha.” Young content creators spoke about Martín Fierro. There was contemporary tango, folkloric dancing and Nahuel Pennisi singing one of the great songs of Argentine culture: “Who says all is lost? I come to offer my heart.”

There were candles, flags, tears, laughter and a sea of young people who had arrived with movements, parishes and families — and many who came alone.

Pope Leo drew from Pope Francis’ unforgettable invitation to a Church for “everyone, everyone, everyone,” saying he wanted to use it as an inspiration for “what it means to live as disciples of Jesus: everyone toward Christ, everyone with Christ, everyone like Christ.”

He spoke to those raised close to the Church and those only now beginning to seek Christ; to those who had stopped praying, walked away or been wounded by people who should have accompanied them.

“There is a place for you in the Church, with your questions, your wounds and your story,” he told them. “This is your home too.”

It will take me some time to articulate just how extraordinary these past few days have been for me. I have always been proud to be Argentine. After these days, I am even more so.

But pride cannot be the only fruit of what we have lived.

When he arrived, Pope Leo reminded us that “no generation builds its homeland from scratch. It inherits it.” He then expressed a hope that now feels like a task entrusted to every Argentine: “May those who come after you inherit a united homeland, worthy of its history and the possibilities it holds.”

Tonight, for a few hours at least, that united homeland felt possible.

Now comes the harder part: carrying home the joy, setting aside the ideological contempt that has wounded us for too long, and daring to build together the nation we say we dream of.

Or, as Pope Leo told the young people tonight: “May your lives become pages of the Gospel, written in the ink of mercy.”

May Argentina write the next page well.

(Photos from Reuters via @OSVNews)

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

NEW: The @nytimes confirms that ICE deliberately electronically "disappeared" tens of thousands of people in detention and ordered contractors to refuse to reveal where they're held to family or lawyers.

30% of all immigrants detained in ICE jails now have their location hidden.

[Catholic Arena @CatholicArena]

The pope finished the night in Buenos Aires by singing his heart out as fireworks lit up the sky

An amazing night in Argentina

The pope cried, the nuns cried, 1 million young people cried

[Tim O’Malley @timothypomalley]

My new book has a cover and is now available for pre-order on Liturgical Press' website. Pre-order information in comments (good news, it's available near Valentine's Day).

[natalia barbour @natalia_barbour]

The expectation of free parking.

[dolomas 🟠 @dolomas]

Dénle el Pullitzer al fotográfo que tomó esta foto, se los ruego. La luz en sus miradas es INEFABLE.👼👼

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

When being just and honest comes at a price, pay it. When forgiving seems like a defeat, forgive. When everyone tells you to think of yourselves first, do not be afraid to put yourselves in the last place. Be willing to give up time, money, comfort and plans to serve others. May those who see you find themselves asking: “Why do they live in this way? Where do they get this freedom? Why do they love one another so much?” #ApostolicJourney #Uruguay

[Steven Knepper @StevenEKnepper]

Jacob Saliba offers a great overview of Gabriel Marcel's philosophy @ChurchLifeND.
https://t.co/eKfV7jpXM4

[Chris Moody @moody]

This photo from Election Night in Boone, North Carolina, is a modern Norman Rockwell painting

📸 Credit: Noah Williford, @TheAppalachian

[America Magazine @americamag]

With Democrats in control of Congress, Catholic immigration advocates will have an opportunity to play offense, rather than scrambling to block punitive policies.
https://t.co/zm25vSxJjM

[Scott Colom @scott_colom]

She done lost her damn mind.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@JonahDispatch My take, July 22, 2016. https://t.co/wV1l3kCeg6

[Terence Sweeney @TerenceJSweeney]

As many celebrate this election, pause and take a moment to pray for those who have died because of this administration or been killed by it.
#Election2026

https://t.co/jom4JxEzsw

[Anthony J. Granado @AnthonyJGranado]

Catholics Invited to Support U.S. Bishops’ Anti-Poverty Efforts on World Day of the Poor https://t.co/5mT7MeTT6G

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Republican Mayor of Oklahoma City👇

[American Solidarity Party 🧡 @AmSolidarity]

This seems like a good time to mention that we are already against the next war.

[USCCB's Secretariat of Migration @MRSserves]

For #WelcomeWednesday, the 6th video in our 10-part series on Catholic social teaching and migration: Refugees and Asylum Seekers

[Adam Schwarz @AdamJSchwarz]

Never forget that Renée Good and Alex Pretti were murdered fighting Trump’s fascism.

Tonight belongs to them.

[Substance @SimplySubstance]

“I cried as I was casting my vote”

Ronaldo Salgado, son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man k*lled by ICE in Houston, speaks on the weight of voting in this midterm election and the hundreds of people who’ve joined him in honoring his late father.