The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints topped local headlines in 2008, beginning the year with its first change of leadership in more than a dozen years and ending in the midst of controversy over its opposition to gay marriage.

The death of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and the naming of President Thomas S. Monson as his successor was the unanimous choice among Deseret News editors, reporters and readers as the top Utah story of 2008.

Those same journalists and readers also ranked the LDS Church's involvement in the passage of California's Proposition 8, along with the protests and criticism that followed, as one of the biggest stories of the year — No. 3 on the readers' list and No. 4 on the Deseret News staff rankings.

President Hinckley died on Jan. 27 at age 97 after guiding the LDS Church through explosive growth during his more than 12 years as president. Worldwide church membership grew from 9 million to more than 13 million during his administration, and dozens of new temples were constructed.

On Feb. 4, President Monson was introduced as the 16th president of the LDS Church, following a pattern of succession that has been established and developed throughout its history and through doctrinal pronouncements in LDS scripture.

In June, LDS Church leaders encouraged members to support California's Proposition 8 by contributing funds and grass-roots organizing.

The constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman was supported by 52 percent of California voters Nov. 4, overriding the California Supreme Court ruling in May that briefly allowed gay marriage.

Three days later, an estimated 3,500 members and supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community gathered at City Creek Park near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City to speak out against the LDS Church for encouraging its members to support Proposition 8.

Protesters in California and other parts of the nation also demonstrated outside LDS meetinghouses and temples, and others called for boycotts of Utah businesses.

The LDS Church also got attention during the 2008 presidential election with Mitt Romney's ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination — the fifth biggest Utah story of the year, according to Deseret News editors and reporters. News readers ranked the story at No. 8.

Romney, a member of the LDS Church, won Utah's GOP primary with an overwhelming 90 percent of the vote. He also amassed nearly $6 million in campaign donations from Utahns.