President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). In general, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve is the most senior Apostle in the church, aside from the President of the Church. When the President of the Church dies, it is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve who becomes the new Church President. The calling of President of the Twelve has been held by 25 men, 15 of whom have gone on to become President of the Church. The current President of the Quorum of the Twelve is Boyd K. Packer.

History of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Twelve

Upon the death of the President of the Church, the First Presidency automatically dissolves, leaving the Twelve Apostles as the highest leadership body and their President as the highest official in the Church. On the death of Church President Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844, this position was held by Brigham Young, and he persuaded the Church that Smith's death left him and not Sidney Rigdon, who had been Smith's First Counselor in the First Presidency, as the senior leader. Smith had reportedly taught the Apostles, "Where I am not, there is no First Presidency over the Twelve." [Joseph Smith, Jr., B.H. Roberts (ed.), "History of the Church", 2:374 (16 January 1836); Joseph Smith, Jr., Joseph Fielding Smith (ed.) (1938) "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith", Deseret Book: Salt Lake City, 106.]

In 1847, the Quorum of the Twelve reconstituted the First Presidency, with Brigham Young as President. During Young's Presidency, seniority within the Quorum of the Twelve was formalized to mean "continuous service as an Apostle since being ordained as one of the Twelve". The original apostles of 1835 had been ranked by age, and two of them had been excommunicated and later restored to fellowship. With this rule in place, it was John Taylor who led the Church after Young's death in 1877, first as President of the Twelve and after 1880 as President of the Church with Wilford Woodruff as President of the Twelve.

After Taylor died in 1887, Woodruff did not reorganize the First Presidency until 1889. But before his death in 1898, he advised the then then-President of the Twelve, Lorenzo Snow, "Do not wait, Brother Snow, but proceed at once to reorganize the First Presidency." Snow followed this advice and since then every interval between the death of the President of the Church and the ordination of a new President has been less than two weeks, just long enough to mourn the death of the President of the Church and complete his funeral services, and also for the Quorum of the Twelve to nominate and sustain the President of the Twelve and for the new President to choose his counselors in the First Presidency. When the President of the Twelve becomes the President of the Church, the next Apostle in seniority becomes the new President of the Twelve.

Duties

The President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the priesthood leader of the members of the Quorum. As such, all members of the Quorum report directly to him. The President's other duties consist of presiding at and conducting weekly meetings of the Quorum in the Salt Lake Temple; making decisions about the particular assignments to be made to the members of the Quorum; speaking on behalf of the Quorum to members of the Church and the media; and acting as a liaison in coordinating the work of the Quorum with the First Presidency, the Quorums of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric.

Acting President

:"See main article: Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles"

If the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is asked to become a counselor in the First Presidency, the President of the Quorum retains that title but is not numbered among the Twelve, and the most senior Apostle who is not in the First Presidency is named Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Acting President assumes all of the duties that would normally rest upon the President of the Quorum. The title of Acting President was first used in 1918 for Rudger Clawson. The position has also been used during times of infirmity of a President of the Twelve: for example, Howard W. Hunter was Acting President for the infirm Marion G. Romney from 1985 to 1988.

Boyd K. Packer was the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1994 to 2008 when Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson were presidents of the Quorum but also in the First Presidency.

List of Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve

Notes