LDS leadership succession plan well-established

Latter-day Saints take comfort in the fact that their church is never without leadership, even when the presiding First Presidency is dissolved upon the death of the president.

Leadership automatically shifts to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a move formally termed "apostolic interregnum." That group discusses and takes the necessary action to designate the new church president following the funeral of the former president. Though speculation about a successor is rampant following such a death, the pattern of succession has been established historically.

The subject was addressed in detail by the church in the August 1996 issue of its official publication, the Ensign magazine, in an article titled, "The Kingdom of God Will Roll On: Succession in the First Presidency."

During the time the Quorum of the Twelve presides over the church after the death of a president, "the President of the Twelve ... is as much the President of the Church in function and authority as when he becomes sustained as such in a newly organized First Presidency," it says.

It quotes former church President Joseph Fielding Smith. "There is no mystery about the choosing of the successor to the President of the Church," he wrote in his book, "Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3." "The Lord settled this a long time ago, and the senior apostle automatically becomes the presiding officer of the church, and he is so sustained by the Council of the Twelve."

Once the new president is ordained by the Quorum of the Twelve, a public announcement is made, and church members are given the chance to sustain their new prophet during the next session of LDS General Conference.

Such a procedure was not clearly spelled out in the early history of the church following the death of founder Joseph Smith but evolved over time through instructions to church leaders in the faith's Doctrine and Covenants.

Today, "The beginning of the call of one to the President of the Church actually begins when he is called, ordained and set apart to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles," former church President Harold B. Lee told church members during General Conference in April 1970. Each apostle "has given to him the priesthood authority necessary to hold every position in the Church, even to a position of presidency over the church if he were called by the presiding authority and sustained by a vote of a constituent assembly of membership of the church."

In a talk delivered during the April 1994 general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley — then first counselor in the First Presidency — referred to scriptures from the Doctrine & Covenants and other writings regarding succession the church.