New Mormon apostle led a global temple building boom and has deep knowledge of church finances

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gérald Caussé, a high-ranking official in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who oversaw its finances and a global temple building boom, became the faith's newest apostle on Thursday.

Caussé, 62, joins an all-male governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which sits just under the church's president and his two top counselors. Apostles help set church policy while overseeing the faith’s many business interests.

With his appointment, he joins the order of succession to the church presidency, which is decided by seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve.

A native of France, Caussé spent the past decade as a presiding bishop who managed the church's money and welfare programs. Under his leadership, the church increased its humanitarian spending and dotted the globe with lavish temples where the faith’s most sacred ceremonies take place.

The faith known widely as the Mormon church does not disclose or discuss its finances, but the latest filings from its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., valued its portfolio at $58 billion. The church’s businesses include real estate, farms, publishing, life insurance, nonprofits, universities, a Polynesian cultural center in Hawaii and an upscale open-air shopping mall in Salt Lake City.

Caussé has at times been the official tasked with defending the church's secrecy surrounding its finances, saying in 2020, “We really consider those funds as belonging to the Lord.”

He fills a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve left by the recent death of President Russell M. Nelson and the appointment last month of a new president, 93-year-old Dallin H. Oaks. In the first significant difference from Nelson’s presidency, Oaks announced during the faith’s recent general conference that the church will slow the announcement of new temples.

Born in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, Caussé becomes the third European in the Quorum of the Twelve.

During Nelson's presidency, the church injected some diversity into the previously all-white leadership panel by selecting the first Latin American apostle and the first apostle of Asian ancestry. The faith, headquartered in Utah, has more than half its 17.5 million members living outside the United States.

The apostles, who are called to serve for life, tend to be older men who have achieved success in occupations outside the church. Caussé was the general manager of Pomona, a food distribution company in France. The last three chosen for the Quorum of the Twelve before him were a U.S. State Department official, an accountant for multinational corporations, and a board member of charities and schools.