Lars Thomas Idergard (born 1 March 1969 in

Arvidsjaur Arvidsjaur (; ; ) is a locality and the seat of Arvidsjaur Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 4,635 inhabitants in 2010. Arvidsjaur is a center for the European car industry. During the winter months, major car-m ...

) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

businessman and political commentator connected with the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

. Now he is a Jesuit and a Catholic Priest. He gained prominence as chairman of the

Moderate Youth League The Moderate Youth League ( ; MUF), officially known in English as the Swedish Young Conservatives, is the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. Of the political youth organizations that received financial support from the Swedish Agency ...

between 1995 and 1998. He was seen as a future leader of the party but after his resignation he withdrew from party politics. He was thus considered as part of the "Lost Generation" of the Moderate Party together with

Ulf Kristersson Ulf Hjalmar Kristersson (; born 29 December 1963) is a Swedish politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Sweden, prime minister of Sweden since 2022. He has been the leader of the Moderate Party (M) since 2017 and a Member of Parliamen ...

. In 2003, he was one of the leaders of

Sweden in Europe Stiftelsen Sverige i Europa ("Sweden in Europe") was the main campaign organisation on the yes side in the 2003 referendum on the euro. Sweden in Europe involved all political groups supporting the euro, including Social Democrats, in the campaig ...

, campaigning for Swedish membership of the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

. He was often seen on Swedish TV as a commentator and wrote a column in ''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'' In 2009, he became a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and in 2014, a

brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

in the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. In 2017, he was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in the Catholic Church. He was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in the Catholic Church on September 30, 2017, by the Catholic bishop of Sweden, Anders Cardinal Arborelius OCD, in the Jesuit St. Eugenia Church in Stockholm, where he also has his work (http://www.dagen.se/nyheter/tidigare-moderaten-thomas-idergard-prastvigd-1.1033757 samt https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/bytte-politiken-mot-kyrkan-blir-nu-prast/).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idergard, Thomas 1969 births Living people Moderate Party politicians 21st-century Jesuits Swedish Jesuits Converts to Roman Catholicism People from Arvidsjaur Municipality 21st-century Swedish businesspeople