The LDS Newsroom has posted the First Presidency’s short statement of condolences on the passing of Pope Francis. Here is the text of the statement:
We join the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. 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.
The Newsroom post is accompanied by four photos of LDS General Authorities posing for pictures with Pope Francis. They look like fans getting a photo with their favorite celebrity.
The statement praised his “courageous and compassionate leadership.” I wonder to what extent senior LDS leaders exhibit those same virtues? That’s an open question. I’m sure on many assignments they exhibit a commendable degree of compassion, whether for those in third world countries facing daily economic challenges or for spoiled rich Americans who nevertheless face sporadic personal challenges. Courageous is a different matter. Hating on the gays is not courageous, even if the Church News headline read “LDS apostle courageously defends marriage between a man and a woman.” Socking away hundreds of billions of dollars is not courageous. What would the headline be? “LDS leaders courageously refrain from spending excess tithing and investment revenue on the poor and needy, boldly adding another few billion dollars to the eternally untouchable LDS rainy day fund.”
A couple of the photos were taken as the pictured LDS leaders attended the dedication of the LDS Rome Italy Temple in 2019. The building and grounds are impressive. This is a statement temple, sort of like the Washington DC Temple. Google tells me there are a little over 27,000 LDS in Italy, which probably means less than 10,000 active church-attending Mormons in Italy. I’m sure the Rome Temple bolsters the faith and pride of LDS members in Italy.
No doubt there will be another related post or two here at W&T when the new Pope is selected in a few weeks and takes office.
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Wheat & Tares 
My father and stepmother just got back from an epic European trip in which they spent 6 weeks in various countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey). My father no longer identifies as LDS and neither does his wife, though both were raised LDS. My father served a mission in Japan years ago and is one of 10 children, 4 of whom are still active (2 are current stake presidents, one in Idaho and another in Colorado).
My aunt (father’s sister) said to my dad, “You should really visit the Rome, Italy temple and visitors center. My father was baffled by this because of all the places they could visit and the architecture they could see, this was the least interesting and impressive to him. This is just to say that I’m not sure the Rome, Italy temple was announced to bolster the faith of LDS members so much as it was announced to bolster the faith and pride of LDS in the “Mormon corridor.” Having a temple in the seat of Catholicism for the mountain West LDS I think is a good way of continuing to create a narrative of growth and religious success in the minds of the LDS faithful. In other words, the Rome, Italy temple is for the Americans. I suspect most visitors are LDS tourists visiting Europe.
Dave B.,
The church ranks at no. 1 or 2 in charitable giving depending on how one figures the Catholic organizational apparatus.
As far as its reserves are concerned–the church is very serious about taking care of its own. But even as large as its holdings may seem to be it only amounts to about 6 thousand dollars per member.
What are the chances that the Catholic Church issues a statement when RMN passes? Will Catholic leadership even know? It will be a non-event outside of LDS circles. That’s the way it goes when you’re the leader of just 2/1000 of the world’s population.
josh h,
When President Monson passed away, there were Catholic Archbishops and Bishops who extended their condolences. There was no statement from the Holy See.
To Jack: you are wildly off. The net worth of the church is between 300 and 400 billion, with a b. The church claims 17 million members. That would work out to around twenty thousand per member. But since only around 20 percent are active worldwide, it’s actually closer to $100,000 per active member. Actual charitable activity by the church is tiny- about 2 billion, less than a half of a percent of assets. That’s why it’s plowing so much into temple construction- to justify requiring tithing to get in a temple. Pay the fee, go on the ride.
Ken,
When people voice their concerns about how the church could do more for the poor they typically point to what many folks refer to as its “rainy day” fund–not its entire net worth. Of course, it’s possible that the church could liquidate some of its properties–but I doubt that we’ll see a big move in that direction.
There is a picture of President Nelson standing with Pope Francis where you can see Nelson giving a business exec smile communicating through his body language that he is so great among Mormon church leaders so as to formally meet the pope himself. He beamed with a self-congratulatory aura about him. Pope Francis on the other hand is seen with a reluctant, wry, wincing smile giving off an air of “who is this guy? Did I make a mistake meeting with him?” Nelson visited him in 2019 on the occasion of dedicating the Rome temple. I imagine the pope had to have been looking quizzically at the temple being built there, in Rome, the city of some of the most ornate and elaborate churches in the world.
The statement was succinct and appropriate. But I still find it confusing that in 2025 the LDS Church is outwardly showing goodwill toward the Catholics and their late pope, when for generations Mormons (quietly) vilified and disparaged them as being a corrupted version of Christ’s original church, bereft of “true” priesthood authority and led by a false prophet (the sitting pope). We never expressed this publicly, but it was definitely a part of the discourse, even in my late Gen-X/early millenial lifetime. I was explicitly taught about the “great and abominable church” in Sunday school, seminary, institute and other formal church settings. We see remnants of those attitudes today in Brad Wilcox (everyone else is “playing church”) and even RMN, who was photographed smugly trying to steal the keys from the statue of St. Peter with a Hamburglar-like grin on his face, brimming with arrogance. The completion of the Rome temple is the crowning achievement of that superiority complex. Maybe Mormons should instead be honestly unpacking their historical disdain for Catholicism first, then apologizing for it, before pretending like we were friends all along.
Jack Hughes, I hadn’t heard about or seen the picture of RMN taking the key from the statue of Peter. So I looked it up. Holy cow. Unbelievable. Truly so arrogant. That the church tried to take down the picture is an even greater acknowledgement of the arrogance.