Church of Jesus Christ names new Presiding Bishopric

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Church of Jesus Christ named Bishop W. Christopher Waddell as its newest presiding bishop.
Bishop Waddell emphasizes environmental sustainability and humanitarian aid in church duties.
Bishops L. Todd Budge and Sean Douglas will serve as first and second counselors.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its new Presiding Bishopric Friday, after Elder Gérald Caussé, the former presiding bishop, was called as the newest apostle last week.

The First Presidency named Bishop W. Christopher Waddell as the church's 16th presiding bishop. He has been a member of the Presiding Bishopric since 2016, formerly was a general authority seventy and area seventy, and previously served as a mission president in Barcelona, Spain.

Bishop Waddell, 66, was born in Los Angeles. He made a career working for Merill Lynch, a wealth management and investment firm. He and his wife Carol Stansel are the parents of four children.

The Presiding Bishopric serves under the direction of the First Presidency to care for those in need by managing humanitarian aid, welfare programs, tithing and fast offerings, physical facilities and organization of membership records, according to the church. The bishopric travels frequently to minister to church members around the world as part of their duties.

When he was first called to the church's Presiding Bishopric, Bishop Waddell noted that every aspect of the work of the church is about helping people return to God, the church said in a statement.

"If we do everything thinking ultimately of exalting God's children, whether we are starting from a temporal standpoint or an ecclesiastical standpoint, it still all goes to the same place in the end," he said. "That's what we are building towards."

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, then-first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, visits the disaster relief command center in St. Petersburg, Fla., in October 2024. (Photo: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

The Presiding Bishopric also focuses on caring for God's creations by emphasizing environmental sustainability to be "wise stewards of the earth." Bishop Waddell spoke in 2023 about conserving water in the context of the Great Salt Lake.

"We should acknowledge God's hands in providing us this blessing (of water) and that our work is not done yet," Bishop Waddell said. "We must continue with all diligence if we are to make the difference that is needed. May the Lord grant us all the faith and perseverance to be wise stewards of our water, our land, and the resources that flow through them."

In his most recent general conference address in October 2023, Bishop Waddell spoke of the power of Jesus Christ and how important it is to emulate him.

"No leader has ever shown more courage, no humanitarian has shown more kindness, no physician has cured more disease, and no artist has been more creative than Jesus Christ," he said. "In a world of heroes, with monuments and museums devoted to the exploits of mortal men and women, there is one who stands above all others."

Counselors

Bishop Waddell and Bishop L. Todd Budge served as counselors for Elder Caussé, who was the presiding bishop for 10 years. Bishop Budge will be the first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric with Bishop Sean Douglas as second counselor.

Bishop Budge, 65, was called as a general authority seventy in 2019 and became part of the Presiding Bishopric in 2020. He has served in various callings in his home ward and stake, was formerly an area seventy and was a mission president in Tokyo, Japan. He and his wife Lori Capener have six children.

Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric presents a $32 million donation to the World Food Programme in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 14, 2022. (Photo: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Bishop Budge spoke in general conference about the role of the Presiding Bishopric in overseeing humanitarian and welfare work, saying it spans the whole globe and "blesses more of God's children than ever before."

In 2022, Bishop Budge presented a donation from the church of $32 million to the World Food Programme to address what that organization called a "seismic hunger crisis." At that announcement, he said giving to others in need helps "God's children (be) a little happier and all of us a little holier."

Bishop Douglas was called as a general authority seventy in 2021. He was serving as an area president in Mexico when he was called to the Presiding Bishopric.

Bishop Douglas, 61, was born in Salt Lake City and has four children with his wife Ann Dickson. He worked as an accountant in his career and became the chief financial officer of Huntsman Corporation.

Bishop Sean Douglas greets religious leaders, academics, public officials, human rights advocates, and representatives of civil society at the 10th National Congress on Religious Freedom in León, Mexico, on Aug. 28. (Photo: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

In August, Bishop Douglas spoke at a religious freedom congress in León, Mexico, where he said religious freedom and peace are "deeply intertwined." He encouraged all faiths to come together and help those in need, including migrants, victims of violence and people living in poverty.

"Religious freedom dignifies the human being and, when respected and protected, becomes a powerful tool for building peace," he said.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.