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| − | [[Image:Rome-Italy-Temple-2019.jpg|225px|thumb|<center><span style="color:#0000FF">Rome Italy Temple</span></center>|right]]
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| − | On Saturday, 4 October 2008, during the opening session of the 178th Semiannual [[General Conference]], [[Thomas S. Monson]], then President of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], announced the building of a temple in Rome, Italy.
| + | [[Image:Deseret-Peak-200.jpg|250px|thumb|right|<div align="left"><span style="color:#0D8ED3">Deseret Peak Utah Temple. ©2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.</span></div>]] |
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| − | There are more than 30,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy, with seven [[Stake|stakes]] and two [[Mission|missions]]. The [[Rome Italy Mormon Temple|Rome Italy Temple]] will be the first LDS temple constructed in Italy and the 12th temple in Europe. When completed, the Rome Italy Temple will serve members who, according to local Rome [[Stake President]], Massimo De Feo, currently travel to the [[Bern Switzerland Temple]] if they wish to do temple work. He also said that the Church has seen a significant increase in requests for baptisms for the living and the dead, and for [http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/mormon/marriage/ celestial marriage ceremonies and family sealing ceremonies] which officially bind couples or families together for eternity. He also believes that many Italian members who moved away because of inadequate ways to practice their faith will return to Italy once the temple is complete.
| + | On November 10, 2024, the 200th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated. In the October 2024 general conference, President [[Russell M. Nelson]] said, "My dear brothers and sisters, do you see what is happening right before our eyes? I pray that we will not miss the majesty of this moment! The Lord is indeed hastening His work. |
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| − | ==Latter-day Saint Population Throughout Italy==
| + | "Why are we building temples at such an unprecedented pace? Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to do so. The blessings of the temple help to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. These blessings also help to prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord!"[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/57nelson?lang=eng] |
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| − | The [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/28/a-mormon-st-peter-s-in-rome.html Daily Beast.com] reports, "Italy has 103 Latter-day Saints congregations under 10 stakes, divided into missions based in Milan and Rome, with the highest concentration in the north of Italy, where 53 percent of Mormons live, compared to 29 percent in southern Italy and 18 percent in the central regions. Sicily alone has 3,052 members of the Church; the region around Rome has 2,117, according to the LDS Italy archives. There are more female Mormons (53 percent) than men (47 percent) in the country." | + | The [[Deseret Peak Utah Temple]] was originally announced as the Tooele Valley Utah Temple in April 2019 by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The temple’s name became the Deseret Peak Utah Temple on January 19, 2021. |
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| − | ==Early Missionary Work in Italy==
| + | Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Elder [[Brook P. Hales]] of the Quorum of the Seventy conducted the groundbreaking service and offered the dedicatory prayer. |
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| − | Just three years after the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, the first missionaries arrived in Genoa, Italy, on 25 June 1850, including Elder [[Lorenzo Snow]], who would become the fifth president of the Church. Over the next three years, 221 people were baptized and organized into three [[Branch|branches]]. But most proselytizing in Italy stopped in the early 1860s in the face of local opposition and because of a request from Church leaders for Italian members to migrate to Utah. An attempt to reopen missionary work in Italy in 1900 was refused by the government. The Church was finally reestablished in Italy in 1951, following the conversion of Vincenzo di Francesca, who happened to discover a charred copy of the [[Book of Mormon]] in a garbage bin. The cover and title page was missing, and it took him years to find out the identity of the book and achieve baptism into the Church. Italians who had joined the Church in other countries began to return to Italy during this period. They attended Church with LDS serviceman stationed in Italy in various branches. By the end of 1964, Church records showed 229 members in Italy. That same year, Elder [[Ezra Taft Benson]], an apostle who would become the 13th president of the Church, petitioned the government for permission to resume missionary work. Permission was granted, the mission was re-opened, and missionaries began to proselyte on 27 January 1965.
| + | This new house of the Lord is nearly 72,000 square feet and sits on a 15.5-acre site at 2400 North 400 West Tooele, Utah. |
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| − | ==Rome Italy Temple Site and Design==
| + | Utah, the Church’s world headquarters, is home to nearly 2.3 million Latter-day Saints, approximately two-thirds of the state’s population of 3.4 million people. The Deseret Peak Utah Temple is one of the Church of Jesus Christ’s 31 houses of the Lord dedicated, under construction or renovation, or announced in Utah. |
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| − | The two-spired, three-story, 140-foot Rome Italy Temple is located in northeast Rome near the Grande Raccordo Anulare, the circular road (beltway) that surrounds the city, at Via di Settebagni, 376, just 11 miles from Saint Peter’s Basilica, near the village of La Cinquina Bufalotta. Its architecture was inspired by ancient Rome. Architect [https://www.ldsdaily.com/church-lds/first-photos-of-rome-italy-temple-released/ Neils Valentiner said], "This had to be one that when you walked onto this site, every person should feel like they were on an Italian site. They would recognize it because of the materials, because of the design, and because of the surrounding." He also stated that the temple’s design was inspired by San Carlino, a Roman Catholic church in Rome. He said, "The curved ceilings, the curved walls, the expression of the colonnades and columns. And that started this very early concept of a curved church, a curved temple, and temple building both on the exterior as well as on the interior."
| + | <center><embedvideo service="youtube" urlargs="rel=0" dimensions="400x225" alignment="inline">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6wYpUuZCVs&rel=0</embedvideo></center> |
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| − | The temple sits on 15 acres and will feature lush gardens, and a 40,000-square-foot temple with floor and ceiling designs to mimic Michelangelo’s Capitoline Hill plaza overlooking the Roman forum. It is part of a religious and cultural center that includes a multifunctional meetinghouse, a visitors’ center, a family history center and housing for visitors. Marble from Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil is being used to decorate the interior and exterior spaces. The exterior finish will be made of Sardo Bianco granite quarried and fabricated in Italy. A charming Italian Villetta, which stood at the highest point of the temple site, was razed to make way for the Rome Italy Temple. The Villetta served for a time as an apartment for the full-time [[Missionaries|missionaries]]. | + | ===The Salt Lake Temple=== |
| | + | While certain areas of Temple Square remain closed for renovation, visitors can enjoy the Conference Center, Tabernacle, Church History Museum, Church History Library and FamilySearch Library and the newly renovated Main Street and Church Office Building plazas. Renovation work on the Salt Lake Temple’s six spires is complete, with scaffolding now removed to reveal the restored towers atop the temple. |
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| − | The construction plans for the Rome Italy Temple site also includes a [[Stake Center]] meeting house (a stake being roughly similar to a Catholic diocese), a [[Visitors' Centers|Visitors' Center]] that will house [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765613988/LDS-visitors-center-in-Rome-to-feature-recreated-Christus-statue.html digitally reproduced marble replicas of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s renown sculptures] of Christus and the Twelve Apostles, a [[Family History Library|Family History Center]], and patron housing. | + | The Salt Lake Temple was decommissioned on 5 January 2020 and the extensive renovation is expected to be completed by 2026. |
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| − | ==Rome Italy Temple Groundbreaking Ceremony==
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| − | President [[Thomas S. Monson]] dedicated the temple site on Saturday, 23 October 2010. He was accompanied by Church officials, including Elder [[William R. Walker]], Executive Director of the Temple Department; [[Erich W. Kopischke]], President of the Europe Area and his two counselors, Elder [[Gerald Causse|Gérald Caussé]] and Elder [[José A. Teixeira]]; Elder Alfredo L. Gessati, Area [[Seventy]]; President [[Massimo De Feo]], Rome Italy [[Stake President]]; and President Raimondo Castellani, Bern Switzerland [[Temple President]]. Numerous government officials were also in attendance including Mr. Giuseppe Ciardi, vice mayor of Rome, and Senator Lucio Malan.
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| − | During his remarks to the 500 guests at the groundbreaking ceremony, [http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/the-rome-italy-temple-construction-site-progresses he said], "My heart is filled with gratitude. Members throughout Italy and the entire Mediterranean area will be able to come here." Senator Lucio Malan commented that it was "A ceremony that profoundly touched me for the sincere and heartfelt appreciation of those attending. A positive day for Italy because those who profess to obey the laws of the state and the laws of God make the country in which they live a better place."
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| − | Shortly after ground was broken for the temple, Rome Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, visited the temple site with Elder José Teixeira of the [[Quorum of the Seventy]]. According to a report on the [http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormons-around-world-country-newsroom-websites-may-2 Mormon Newsroom] website, Mayor Alemanno, an environmental engineer, "was impressed with the Church’s high construction standards and materials, including the systems employed to manage water consumption, electrical production and the low environmental impact of the temple complex." The full story is available on the [http://www.media-mormoni.it/articolo/visita-del-sindaco-di-roma-al-sito-del-tempio Italy Mormon Newsroom] website.
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| − | During a visit to Europe in the summer of 2014, President [[Dieter F. Uchtdorf]], [[Second Counselor]] in the [[First Presidency]], spent some time at the site of the Rome Italy Temple. [https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865620671/LDS-Church-releases-statement-on-construction-of-Rome-Italy-Temple.html He commented], "The Rome temple is significant for the Church in Italy, not only for its physical presence but also as a monument to the growth of the Church. For centuries, Rome has been the Christian hub throughout the world."
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| − | ==Church Announces Open House and Dedication Dates==
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| − | The Rome Italy Temple opened to the public for a free public tour on Monday, 28 January 2019. The open house will run through Saturday, 16 February 2019, excluding Sundays.
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| − | [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] announced that the Rome Italy Temple will be dedicated on Sunday, 10 March 2019, through Tuesday, 12 March 2019.
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| − | Speaking about the temple, President [[Russell M. Nelson]] [http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Announces-Dedication-Dates-for-the-Rome-Italy-Temple/s/88087 said], "The sacred ordinances performed in this holy temple will unite families for eternity. God loves all His children equally and has provided a way for them to be linked in love, generation to generation. We are thrilled to be able to dedicate a temple in this city replete with historical importance throughout the ages." Of the Rome Italy Temple, the 162nd operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the world, Elder [[David A. Bednar]] of the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]] and chairman of the Temple and Family History Department said, "It is beautiful. The craftsmanship is expert and perfect."
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| − | <center><embedvideo service="youtube" urlargs="rel=0" dimensions="400x225" alignment="inline">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEwbYzI-pyk&rel=0</embedvideo></center>
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| − | <noinclude>[[category:Templates]]</noinclude>
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On November 10, 2024, the 200th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated. In the October 2024 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson said, "My dear brothers and sisters, do you see what is happening right before our eyes? I pray that we will not miss the majesty of this moment! The Lord is indeed hastening His work.
"Why are we building temples at such an unprecedented pace? Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to do so. The blessings of the temple help to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. These blessings also help to prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord!"[1]
Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Elder Brook P. Hales of the Quorum of the Seventy conducted the groundbreaking service and offered the dedicatory prayer.
This new house of the Lord is nearly 72,000 square feet and sits on a 15.5-acre site at 2400 North 400 West Tooele, Utah.
Utah, the Church’s world headquarters, is home to nearly 2.3 million Latter-day Saints, approximately two-thirds of the state’s population of 3.4 million people. The Deseret Peak Utah Temple is one of the Church of Jesus Christ’s 31 houses of the Lord dedicated, under construction or renovation, or announced in Utah.
While certain areas of Temple Square remain closed for renovation, visitors can enjoy the Conference Center, Tabernacle, Church History Museum, Church History Library and FamilySearch Library and the newly renovated Main Street and Church Office Building plazas. Renovation work on the Salt Lake Temple’s six spires is complete, with scaffolding now removed to reveal the restored towers atop the temple.
The Salt Lake Temple was decommissioned on 5 January 2020 and the extensive renovation is expected to be completed by 2026.
