Latest news with #AuthoritySeventy
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The First Presidency offers condolences on the passing of Pope Francis, noting his ‘courageous, compassionate leadership'
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the following statement following the death of Pope Francis — who died Monday, one day after taking part in Easter festivities on Sunday. Pope Francis, 88, had returned to work after a long hospitalization, but was still dealing with lingering issues related to pneumonia. 'We join the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,' wrote President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring. 'His courageous and compassionate leadership has blessed countless lives. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all who looked to him for inspiration and counsel. As the world pauses to remember his example of forgiveness and service, we feel deep gratitude for the goodness of a life well lived and rejoice in the hope of a glorious resurrection made possible through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.' In 2019, President Russell M. Nelson met with Pope Francis inside the Vatican — marking the first-ever face-to-face discussion between the heads of the two global churches. 'We had a most cordial, unforgettable experience with His Holiness,' President Nelson said afterward as he stood just outside St. Peter's Square. 'He was most gracious and warm and welcoming. What a sweet, wonderful man he is, and how fortunate the Catholic people are to have such a gracious, concerned, loving, and capable leader.' President M. Russell Ballard, the late president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, joined President Nelson in the 2019 meeting, along with Elder Massimo De Feo, a General Authority Seventy, and Elder Alessandro Dini Ciacci, an Area Seventy. After the meeting, President Nelson said that the two faiths have much in common — 'our concern for human suffering, the importance of religious liberty for all of society, and the importance of building bridges of friendship instead of building walls of segregation.' The pope and President Nelson embraced at the end of their time together. 'They gave each other a hug as we left that said everything,' President Ballard said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
President Nelson invites church members to increase their capacity for charity and virtue
President Russell M. Nelson sounded notes of optimism and warning Sunday afternoon and invited listeners to take intentional steps to increase their charity, virtue and confidence before God at the conclusion of the 195th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 'As we go to our Heavenly Father with increasing confidence, we will be filled with more joy and our faith in Jesus Christ will increase,' he said. 'We will begin to experience spiritual power that exceeds our greatest hopes.' The church's 100-year-old prophet-leader was the last of 32 speakers at the two-day conference, which drew 98,397 to the Conference Center and Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Millions more watched and listened to broadcasts and livestreams. While he said the Church of Jesus Christ is experiencing great momentum, he also warned listeners against divisiveness. 'The present hostility in public dialogue and on social media is alarming. Hateful words are deadly weapons,' he said. 'Contention prevents the Holy Ghost from being our constant companion.' He invited church members and others to take specific steps to shield themselves and help others. He said increasing charity and virtue can help them lead the way as peacemakers. 'The Savior is the Prince of Peace. We are to be his instruments for peace,' he said. 'In the Lord's own words, charity and virtue open the way to having confidence before God,' he added. 'Brothers and sisters, we can do this. Our confidence truly can wax strong in the presence of God, right now!' President Nelson attended the Sunday session after viewing the four earlier sessions from home. His message was pre-recorded as a concession to age. 'My eyes continue to get older,' he said. As he prepared to announce 15 new temple locations at the end of his talk, he said regular worship in temples increases capacity for charity and virtue. 'Time in the temple increases our confidence before the Lord,' he said. 'Increased time in the temple will help us prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not know the day or the hour of his coming. But I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that 'great and dreadful day.'' Sunday's temple announcement brings the total number of Latter-day Saint temples to 382 — including 202 that are dedicated. The others are in various stages of planning or construction. With the 15 new locations, President Nelson now has announced 200 temples since becoming church president in January 2018. (The full list of new temples is at the bottom of this story.) Sunday's other speakers described Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as 'perfectly loving, kind, patient, understanding and perfectly glorious,' in the words of Elder John A. McCune, a General Authority Seventy. President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, said the Father designed his plan of happiness with divine, saving help in mind. First, God planned to send his Son, Jesus Christ, to provide a 'glorious erasing' of repented sins, said President Oaks, who also listed four other helps that God provided his children: The light or spirit of Christ to help each person know good from evil. The cluster of directions available in scripture known as commandments, ordinances and covenants. The manifestations of the Holy Ghost that witness of truth. The gift of the Holy Ghost as a daily companion from the Godhead. 'Our part in this Divine Plan,' President Oaks said, 'is to trust in God and seek and use these divine helps, most notably the Atonement of his Beloved Son, our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.' Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles noted that Sunday's conference marked the exact 195th anniversary of the 1830 worship service that served as the formal organization of the church. He called it 'a singular event in the history of the world' and some of the most important glorious 'good news' any person can receive. 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's New Testament church restored,' Elder Bednar said. 'This church is anchored in the perfect life of its chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ, and in his infinite Atonement and literal Resurrection. Jesus Christ has once again called apostles and has given them priesthood authority.' That first meeting on April 6, 1830, he added, was 'the culmination of a sequence of miraculous experiences.' The second in a 'sequence of miraculous experiences' that led to the church's organization was the publication of the Book of Mormon, followed by the restoration of the keys of the priesthood authority bestowed by ancient prophets and apostles upon Joseph Smith,' Elder Bednar said. Every person is a child of God who should seek connection with deity and push back against feelings of shame, speakers said. The truth that each is a child of God is breathtaking and literal, said Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 'This is not just a nice song we sing,' he said. 'Will you please accept, open and receive this gift of knowledge and understanding from him? Will you hold it close as the precious treasure it is? Re-receive this gift, or perhaps truly receive it for the very first time, and let it transform every aspect of your life.' God and Christ love every person, said Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency. 'Listen for that voice that says good things about you — the voice of the Savior, your finest friend, and your Father in Heaven, who is really there,' she said. 'Remember, their love and your worth are always great, no matter what.' Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve said Easter, which falls on April 20 this year, helps connect God's children to him. 'Easter in Jesus Christ helps us mend, reconcile, make right our relationships, on both sides of the veil,' he said. 'Jesus can heal grief; he can enable forgiveness. He can free us and others from things we or they have said or done that otherwise bind us captive.' Father in Heaven loves each of his children perfectly, so much so that he provides them compensating blessings for things beyond their control, Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé said. 'My dear friends,' Bishop Caussé said, 'if you ever feel limited or disadvantaged by the circumstances of your life, I want you to know this: The Lord loves you personally. He knows your circumstances, and the door to his blessings remains wide open to you no matter the challenges you face.' The new temples are: Reynosa, Mexico Chorrillos, Peru Rivera, Uruguay Campo Grande, Brazil Porto, Portugal Uyo, Nigeria San Jose del Monte, Philippines Nouméa, New Caledonia Liverpool, Australia Caldwell, Idaho Flagstaff, Arizona Rapid City, South Dakota Greenville, South Carolina Norfolk, Virginia Spanish Fork, Utah
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
President Jeffrey R. Holland lifts spirits of Southern Californians devastated by wildfires
VAN NUYS, Calif. — President Jeffrey R. Holland looked across the faces Saturday of scores of Southern California Latter-day Saints who recently lost their homes and most of their possessions to recent wildfires. He assured them that he and his fellow apostolic leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ are praying for them daily. And then, emphatically, he assured them again. 'We pray for you every day,' he said. 'We pray for you in private. We pray for you in our own apostolic circle. And we pray for you in public meetings like this. 'We know something of the challenges that exist around the world — and there are many, many in distant places, as well as California. 'And we know something about the challenges in each of our own lives.' Last month's devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires consumed the homes of dozens of Latter-day Saint families from the Pacific Palisades and Altadena communities. Many others remain displaced. On Saturday, President Holland visited the capacity-filled San Fernando California Stake Center to share support and spiritual counsel — while lifting the spirits of many who remain physically overwhelmed and emotionally spent. In a nearly hourlong message fueled by emotion, tenderness and humor, President Holland, the church's Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, reminded his vast audience of the vitalness of prayer and service. Find strength in one's faith, he added — and then go look out for one another. President Holland was joined Saturday by Elder Mark A. Bragg, a General Authority Seventy and president of the church's North America West Area — along with Elder Bragg's wife, Sister Yvonne Bragg. Prayer is needed more than ever before, said President Holland. 'An event like we've faced here brings out prayers across the land; across the globe — but it surely will bring them out as family-to-family and friend-to-friend and neighbor-to-neighbor,' he said. 'We can offer those prayers before an event happens — and we surely offer them with you after they happen.' Sometimes during difficult times, all one can do is cry with loved ones — at least at the beginning. 'I don't know whether a meeting like this means anything to you, but it means a lot to us,' said President Holland. 'We cry with you, we pray with you. You're not isolated. You're not forgotten. The brotherhood and sisterhood of the Saints is a real thing — a true promise. 'And we do this across the church.' President Holland shared several 'tips or words of encouragement' that can help sustain the Los Angeles-area Latter-day Saints and their neighbors at an unsettling time. First, he said, 'God loves us.' Next, he added, 'Don't spend needless time asking, 'Why?'.' And why do tragic, heart wrenching things happen? 'Generally, we don't know,' answered President Holland. Questions, he added, often arrive without answers. Perhaps such unanswerable questions seek meaning to wildfires in Southern California. Or they could be questions about Latter-day Saint history. They could be family questions or questions about a job loss and money difficulties. 'When we have questions to which we don't know the answer, then we cling tenaciously and never yield on what we do know,' taught President Holland. 'We do know that God is our Father. God is good. God is merciful. God is kind. God is all those things with all those virtues that we're supposed to reach toward.' Seek patience — and keep one's life 'free from the love of mammon' and be content with what one has, he added. Life can be arduous. It's rarely an easy journey. But 'our Father in Heaven is not going to give us less love — but more,' said President Holland. 'Walk and talk and be and assume and project the life of the Savior in our own. That's the deal. That's what we talked about back before we came here. Christ was the model. Christ was the example. 'He wouldn't ask us to do one single, solitary thing that He had not experienced.' Christ takes his people to the 'great feast in heaven' — and pays for it all. If people follow him, promised President Holland, God will speak to them. 'He whispers to us in our pleasure. He speaks to us through our conscience. He shouts to us in our pain.' The Southern California fires were a megaphone to the deaf world, he added. 'God is asking us to listen. To pray more. To be in communication more. To know more. And to take the steps more and better.' The Southern California fires are also reminders that life is replete with loss, turbulence, challenges and disappointments. 'But what we have to remember is that God loves us,' he said. 'He is good. He is merciful. There is a plan. ... We call it the plan of salvation. We call it the plan of happiness. We call it the plan of mercy. We call it the plan of justice. We call it the plan of the gospel.' A recurring element of that plan often involved being broken, added President Holland. 'It takes broken clouds to generate rain. It takes rain over a broken earth to grow grain. It takes broken grain to make bread. It takes broken bread to feed us. 'These are the cycles of life.' The Lord, he continued, loves broken things. 'The greatest offering we can make to him is a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and he gives us this chance,' said President Holland. 'I don't think he creates them. I don't think he forces them on us. I don't think that when we have a hard day, it's God's fault if we're trying to live the gospel. 'But he turns those to an educational experience. He turns those to accepting a broken dream, a broken heart, a broken home, a broken child — and he says: 'Put it on the altar'.' God's people will stumble up to the altar with their broken elements. 'And if we're honest and pure and contrite and trying — we get back perfect. 'It's worth the journey. It's worth the trip. It's worth the challenge, the sorrow and the sadness, — because it all comes true in the end.' President Holland concluded Saturday by sharing an apostolic blessing with all gathered in the crowded stake center. 'I bless you, everyone, with every righteous desire of your heart,' he said. 'It would seem that almost no age of holy scripture can be turned to in which it does not say: 'Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. 'We don't have a stopwatch on when that will happen — but that is repeated time after time after time after time.' The recent wildfires trigger deep emotions for the Braggs, who are both Los Angeles natives. On Saturday, Sister Bragg called the disaster's aftermath a deciding moment 'where we need to remember to have care, comfort and concern for ourselves — and care, comfort and concern for our friends and loved ones around us. 'This is where we lean on the firm declaration of our faith. Where we put our complete trust in the Lord.' Elder Bragg, meanwhile, said he is watching the Los Angeles-area members bless each other, their neighborhoods and their communities. 'I've never seen a group of individuals go through such trauma — and their first thought was to see how they could bless others,' he said. 'That is what I will remember about this time in our lives: Seeing you take care of one another so beautifully.' Continue to offer empathy and compassion to all in need, added Elder Bragg. 'As we draw close to (Christ), we can be an instrument in His hands to go and bless others — just as Christ has done. Just as He does. Just as He will continue to do, until we are safely home.'
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
BYU applications jump 15% since 2023
The number of students applying to attend BYU jumped to nearly 13,500 for the 2024-25 school year, the university announced Friday on its website. That represents a 15% increase in applicants over the past two years. BYU received: 11,709 applications for the 2022-23 school year, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. 12,976 applications for the 2023-24 spring, summer and fall semesters, up about 11% from the year before. Nearly 13,500 applications for this year's terms, up another 4%. BYU did not offer a reason for the increase in its announcement. 'Students and their families want to gather in a place that deepens faith,' Elder Clark G. Gilbert said in a post on X announcing the increase. Elder Gilbert is a General Authority Seventy and the Commissioner of Church Education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU. He has recently said the church's governance of the university provides critical protections for a modern religious university. BYU's fall semester enrollment grew 2.4% at the same time that enrollment grew at the other church colleges and universities. Elder Gilbert said in November those numbers show that, 'Counter to the narrative sometimes heard that young people are leaving their faith, the numbers actually show that youth and youth adults in the Church Educational System are flocking to their faith.' The new data about BYU applications does not represent a school record, but it does mean BYU will welcome one of its largest freshman classes in the fall. Applicants will be notified whether they were accepted at BYU in mid-February. The university's announcement also said the latest number marks the most applications the school has had since it expanded its application requirements six years ago. BYU moved to a new rigorous, holistic application process in 2018. The school's website said the holistic review is 'an attempt to identify students who have demonstrated alignment with our mission.' The application process includes a review of a student's academic record, essays, activities, recommendations and participation in the church's Seminary and Institute programs. Most applicants are not required to submit an ACT or SAT score, but students can submit them for consideration if they desire. To learn more about what the school is looking for in applications, visit
