SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Russell M. Nelson, the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Saturday night time on the age of 101, church officers introduced.
Nelson died at his residence in Salt Lake Metropolis, church spokesperson Candice Madsen stated in an announcement.
Nelson, a former coronary heart surgeon, spent 4 many years within the highest ranges of church management after he was chosen in 1984 to hitch a high church governing physique known as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He ascended to the presidency in January 2018 when Thomas S. Monson died and in 2024 turned the primary president of the religion to hit the century mark.
The following president of the religion, identified broadly because the Mormon church, was not instantly named, however is predicted to be Dallin H. Oaks, per church protocol. He’s the following longest-tenured member of the church’s governing Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted a heat tribute to Nelson on social media shortly after the announcement.
“For so long as I’ve identified him, he has exuded — and for me, he’s come to personify — the form of religion, humility, and quiet confidence that tends to be the fixed companion of a faithful servant and follower of Jesus Christ,” Lee wrote.
Nelson made vital modifications to the church
The previous coronary heart surgeon had a vibrant and transformative tenure, particularly in 2018, his first yr, when he made a stunning announcement calling on individuals to cease utilizing the shorthand names “Mormon” and “LDS” as substitutes for the complete identify of the faith, a pointy shift after earlier church leaders spent thousands and thousands to promote the moniker over many years.
Nelson additionally made headlines the following yr when he repealed guidelines that banned baptisms for kids of homosexual dad and mom and labeled same-sex {couples} as sinners eligible for expulsion. These 2015 insurance policies had generated widespread backlash.
However regardless that Nelson’s administration was gentler and extra welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals than these of earlier presidents, the church stance on same-sex marriage didn’t change. His administration additionally sharpened guidelines limiting the participation of members who pursue gender-affirming medical procedures or change their names, pronouns or how they costume, resulting in criticism that it could marginalize transgender members.
Nelson and one in every of his high counselors described their method to LGBTQ+ members as making an attempt to stability the “love of the Lord and the legislation of the Lord.”
Presidents of the Utah-based religion are thought of prophets who lead the church by revelations from God in collaboration with two high counselors and members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Nelson was identified for main the church by the COVID-19 pandemic and severing the religion’s century-long ties with the Boy Scouts of America, creating the church’s personal youth program that additionally might serve the greater than half of its 17 million members who stay exterior the U.S. and Canada.
The disassociation got here after the Boy Scouts of America determined to permit LGBTQ+ youth members and grownup volunteers to hitch.
Tenure included scrutiny over abuse experiences
Throughout his tenure, long-simmering scrutiny swelled over the best way the religion handles sexual abuse experiences lodged with native leaders. An Related Press investigation discovered the faith’s sexual abuse reporting hotline might be misused by its leaders to divert abuse accusations away from legislation enforcement and as a substitute to church attorneys who might bury the issue, leaving victims in hurt’s approach.
Nelson and church leaders defended their practices, saying the hotline “has every thing to do with defending kids and has nothing to do with cover-up.”
The church additionally confronted scrutiny about closed door, one-on-one interviews between youth and native grownup leaders the place questions would possibly come up about id and sexuality.
The religion modified its tips to direct lay leaders by no means to ignore a report of abuse, a extra direct instruction than earlier tips. It additionally allowed kids to carry a dad or mum or grownup with them throughout one-one-one interviews with native church leaders generally known as bishops.
Nelson expanded management and solid partnerships
Nelson additionally appointed non-American leaders to the all-white and principally American high governing physique and pushed to publish regional hymnbooks that remember native music and tradition worldwide.
The president shortened Sunday providers and accelerated a long-running push to construct extra temples, dotting the world with the religion’s lavish homes of worship regardless of resistance in some components of the U.S.
He additionally solid a proper partnership with the NAACP. Till 1978, the church banned Black males from the lay priesthood, a coverage rooted within the racist perception that black pores and skin was a curse. The church disavowed the explanations behind the ban in a 2013 essay, however by no means issued a proper apology. It stays one of many most delicate subjects for the church.
Born in Salt Lake Metropolis in 1924, Nelson joined the faith in younger maturity. He was a physician on the age of twenty-two and served a two-year Military medical tour of obligation through the Korean Conflict earlier than resuming a medical profession that included being director of thoracic surgical procedure residency on the College of Utah.
Nelson was identified for his ability of precision, which made him a profitable surgeon throughout his time in church management. He had a popularity for stressing obedience to legislation and to what he known as the “covenant path,” the collection of ordinances and practices that mark a life within the religion, stated Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman, a faith professor at Claremont Graduate Universities.
Nelson and his first spouse, Dantzel White, had 10 kids collectively. After she died in 2005, Nelson married Wendy Watson in 2006.
