The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a photo taken Oct. 14, 2025, the day their new positions were announced. From left to right, First Counselor Henry B. Eyring, LDS President Dallin H. Oaks and Second Counselor D. Todd Christofferson. Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, assumes the role that Russell M. Nelson, who died Sept. 27, had held since 2018.
Dallin H. Oaks, then of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, waves to the crowd at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. Oaks was named president of the church on Oct. 14, 2025, succeeding influential leader Russell M. Nelson.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ordained longtime church elder Dallin H. Oaks as its new president.

Oaks has a formidable legacy to live up to, succeeding influential leader Russell M. Nelson, who died Sept. 27 at the age of 101 after seven years as church president.

"I accept with humility the responsibility that God has placed upon me and commit my whole heart and soul to the service to which I’ve been called," Oaks said at a live press briefing from the church's conference center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Oaks now becomes the 18th leader of the LDC Church, which according to its website has 6.9 million members in the United States and 17.5 million members worldwide.

Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, served as one of two counselors in Nelson's First Presidency. That body was dissolved upon Nelson's death with Oaks returning to a senior membership position in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the church's second-highest governing body, to help begin the process of choosing the church's next leader.

D. Todd Christofferson, who was selected as Oaks' Second Counselor as part of the new First Presidency, praised the new president's intellect and spiritual depth.

"I am not called to be honored but called to serve, grateful to serve at the side of Dallin H. Oaks," Christofferson said.

Henry B. Eyring was named as First Counselor, while Jeffrey R. Holland was named as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Nelson, an accomplished heart surgeon who performed Utah's first open-heart surgery in 1955 and helped develop an artificial heart and lung apparatus, became a full-time church leader in 1984. He rose to its highest rank in 2018 and was known for instituting major policy revisions, including negating the ability of same-sex member couples to be "apostates" and barring their minor children from spiritual rites.

About 2% of American adults identify as Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, according to the Pew Research Center's 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study. Nearly 70% of those members live in the Western U.S., most of them in Utah, where the church's global headquarters was established in Salt Lake City in the mid-19th century.

Oaks thanked church adherents for their prayers as the selection process was conducted.

"I have felt the effect of those prayers and, with my counselors, we will strive in all respects to press forward this great work," he said. Describing Nelson as "a great prophet of the Lord," he said, "We have much work to do to fulfill the challenges he has given us."

Contributing: Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with 17.5M members worldwide, has new president

Reporting by Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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