Elder Gérald Caussé is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, Church President Dallin H. Oaks extended this call to Elder Caussé, filling the quorum’s vacancy left with the passing of President Russell M. Nelson.
At 62, Elder Caussé is the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from France and has served for the last decade as the Church’s presiding bishop, helping oversee the Church’s temporal affairs.
This episode of the Church News podcast features a conversation between Elder Caussé and guest host Sarah Jane Weaver, Deseret News editor and Church News executive editor. Elder Caussé shares his experience and thoughts surrounding his new calling, the love for his family and the humbling honor of discipleship as he is called to be a special and lifelong witness of the name of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Elder Gérald Caussé: Obviously, the greatest opportunity you have as a member of the Twelve is to testify of Jesus Christ, to be a special witness of Jesus Christ. And so, as a newly called Apostle of Jesus Christ, I have learned that I can love even more. My testimony is very simple. It is that Jesus is the Christ. His Church is again upon the earth. It is where everyone can find the love of the Savior in the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, help that is needed through brothers and sisters that are unified together, living the gospel in a way that is blessing their lives forever. I know this is true.
1:02
Jon Ryan Jensen: This is Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Gérald Caussé is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Thursday morning, Nov. 6, Church President Dallin H. Oaks extended the call to Elder Caussé to fill the quorum’s vacancy left with the passing of the late President Russell M. Nelson less than a month before.
Elder Caussé joins this episode of the Church News podcast with guest host Church News executive editor Sarah Jane Weaver. He shares his thoughts on his new calling; the love of and for his wife, Sister Valérie Caussé, and their five children; and the responsibility of being a lifelong witness of the name of Jesus Christ.
1:55
Sarah Jane Weaver: Elder Caussé, thank you so much for making time for us today.
Elder Gérald Caussé: Thank you, Sarah.
Sarah Jane Weaver: You have had a most remarkable recent few days. I know you’ve talked a little bit about this to other media, but can you recount for us again the Thursday when everything changed for you?
2:15
Elder Gérald Caussé: It is still vivid in my memory, for sure. It was a memorable day for me and for my wife, Valérie. Every month, we have a meeting in the temple with the First Presidency and the Twelve, which is mostly a meeting of testimonies and prayer. And I was the organist that day, and the meeting went very well, as usual, and very inspiring. And as I was leaving, I was asked to join President Oaks, who was in a little room waiting for me. And President Oaks just sat by me, and he extended the call.
So at that time, when this happens, you are not ready for it. You know that you are a consecrated servant of the Lord, whatever the calling. It is not about our calling; it is about our discipleship. And so, when he extended the call, I felt of his love. I felt the love of God for me, and it was evident that I should accept this calling and did it with great joy, actually, although I felt totally shocked and overwhelmed.
Then President Oaks invited me to join him into the room where the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were. He invited me to go from — there were 12 chairs for the 12 members of the Twelve, and so he invited me to walk one by one and receive congratulations and love, expressions of love from members of the Quorum of the Twelve. And obviously, the 12th chair was mine. It was empty. And I had also a chance to meet President Eyring and President Christofferson on that occasion.
And that outpouring of love from the Twelve was something that gave me a lot of courage. I sat down, and President Oaks turned to me and said, “Would you like to say something?” And, for example, a testimony. And of course, we always have a testimony ready, right? But the circumstance was different than most of my testimonies. But as I started speaking, I thought about a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 68: “Be of good cheer, and do not fear” (verse 6).
And can I just read it? That scripture has been coming back to my memory several times in the past few days, 68, verses 5 and 6: “Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you” — I heard “unto me” on that occasion, of course — “O ye my servants. Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.”
So, at the very moment I was speaking and bearing my testimony, this is what I heard in my mind, in my heart, and it was, “You have a contract with the Lord. Ye shall bear record of Him. You are a witness of the Lord. And if you do this, I will be with you, and I will stand by you.” So this is all the comfort I needed. And so I bore testimony of that, and this thought accompanied me for the rest of the week. So this is about what happened. And then your life accelerates, and there are a lot of people that want to talk to you, videos and interviews.
But before that, my first thought was about calling each of our children. And before even that, Valérie, of course; my wife, Valérie.
6:16
Sarah Jane Weaver: So, tell us about that.
Elder Gérald Caussé: The first person I talked to about it was Valérie, of course. She was already in the office, and she was in the building meeting with the other wives of general authorities, and she was about to start lunch, and I call her and say, “Can you come immediately to my office?” And so she thought something had happened healthwise, I don’t know. She was — I said, “Everything is good. Just come. I need to talk to you.” I closed the door when she arrived and shared with her that sacred experience. And of course, she has always said yes, but we were shocked. We cried together. I needed to see her by me at that very moment.
And then we called each of my children. We have five children, and so three are in France, and two are here in the United States. So with the time difference, it takes a little time to make sure you get to contact them and spend the time with them. So, which we did. It was an emotional moment for each of them and for us. I was crying every time and saying, “Oh, I have to tell you something.” And they said, “Did you have an accident? What happened?” They were so nice and so appreciative and so proud and expressed their love to us.
And then I eventually got hold of my parents. It was midnight in France when I called them, and I think I must have waken up my dad. And they came, and I said, “I need to talk to you.” And I could feel of their support and love and — well, we can talk about my parents later, but these are my heroes.
8:10
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, one of the first things that I heard that I thought was so sweet in one of the interviews you did, you said, “I was planning to be a disciple of Jesus Christ for the rest of my life.” But obviously, now, as a special witness of the Savior, you are going to be here and not retire to France.
So there are some huge changes for you and your wife and at least your three kids who thought you might come home.
8:37
Elder Gérald Caussé: Yeah, we are a consecrated family. I said we have five children, and three of them let us go to the United States when I was called to the Presiding Bishopric. So they learned to grow in their own lives and build their own lives and their own family without their parents nearby. And they have been exemplary that way. And the other two came with us, which was not easy, because they changed country, they learned a new language, new culture, education system. It was also difficult, but they never complained, neither the three in France or the two here. And so we know we can count on them, on their support.
But of course, it changes our plans for the future, for the long term. We like to go back to France as often as possible. We have many grandchildren there that need to know their grandparents and that we enjoy very much.
9:41
Sarah Jane Weaver: You mentioned your parents. I was in Switzerland and stood on the temple grounds and actually had a moment where I thought about you and growing up with parents who had pioneered in the Church and trips to that temple and sacrifice to build the Church in France.
Talk about your parents.
10:01
Elder Gérald Caussé: My experience as a boy was very similar to the experience of many boys and girls of my age at the time that were second generation of the Church, born from parents who were the pioneers of the Church in their own countries. All over Europe, you find those of my generation who benefited from being raised by true pioneers.
My parents grew up in Algeria in northern Africa. It was a French colony at the time. And the Caussé family was there for almost 100 years, until there was a war of independence, and Algeria became independent. And so my parents, who had just met and married, moved to France, as a student couple there. And so I was born just right after that. And so it was just right after my birth that one day they received in their mailbox a little message saying, “We are two American students” — I think they said, or boys, and for some reason they did not say missionaries. And they said, “We would like to come to your home and talk to you about our religion.” And so they had this little heads-up.
And so, one day they knocked on our door, and my parents opened, and the rest is history. But my parents were baptized in less than three months, after long hours of teaching with the missionaries, a lot of questions. My father, in particular, is a very curious person. He is a chemist, he is a Ph.D. in chemistry, so very scientific. And so he had all those kind of very scientific questions. But his heart turned, feeling the Spirit. And my mother, as well, was more spiritual.
And they got baptized in a little branch of just a few members. There were more missionaries than members at the time. And meetings were in a wooden house because there was no chapel. They were baptized in a collapsible swimming pool in the missionary’s apartment. And so, these were humble beginnings, and they were brave to embrace this religion they did not know a lot about based on their feelings and the inspiration of the Spirit. But they were truly inspired. It changed their life. Everything changed for us and my siblings. We are four children in our family. I am the oldest.
When we moved to Utah, I received an email one day from someone who said, “I am the missionary who found your parents. I taught them the gospel. I baptized them. A little later, I accompanied them to the temple in Switzerland, where they were sealed, and I can tell you everything about it. Would you be interested?” So of course, I called him immediately. I said, “Come over.” He came to my office and shared with me his journal as a missionary, and I already had the journal from my parents telling us about their conversion story, and I had also the other side of the story.
And that missionary was someone who was very new in the mission field, and there was no MTC at the time, so his French was pretty basic. I discovered how much faith he had in the conversion of my parents, and how many prayers and how much fasting had gone into the conversion of my parents from him. So that created a great relationship. A few years later, he passed away, and I was blessed to be presiding at his funeral. I will always remember that missionary.
14:04
Sarah Jane Weaver: So now fast forward, it’s midnight, you call your parents, and what did you say?
Elder Gérald Caussé: Of course, my mom is saying, “What’s happening? What’s happening? I call them every week, but we have our time, and so that was unusual, of course. And I said, “Mom and Dad, I have been called to serve as an Apostle of Jesus Christ.” And then you hear, “Oh, oh.” That reaction and only expressions of love on their part and support. I think they are very proud. I don’t think there should be any pride. There is no pride in myself. I feel so humble.
But of course for parents, especially those who built up the Church in France, that is not something that is supposed to happen, that a boy born in France is becoming a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The chances for this to happen is almost zero. But we have seen many miracles in our lives and we can testify about.
15:24
Sarah Jane Weaver: Share with us what it was like to grow up in a small branch in France with pioneer members. I think you played the piano for the Primary as a young man.
Elder Gérald Caussé: Yeah, so first, when you grow up in that kind of a branch, there is a high chance that your dad is going to be the branch president. He was five times a branch president. I think one time as a bishop later, but branch president. You learn about consecration. You learn about the joy of serving in the Church, because everybody has to put their shoulder to the wheel, including the youth. So that is how, as you mentioned, I was called. My first calling was to be the pianist in Primary, and I enjoyed it, actually. Usually when you turn 12, you are anxious to go out of Primary and to go to the next life in the Aaronic Priesthood quorum, but in my case, I was happy to go back to Primary if it was to play.
And I remember distinctly having special experiences as I accompanied the children. And later on, I was a counselor in the Sunday School presidency when I was 14 years old and became Sunday School president at age 16, and nobody would ever let me think that I was too young for that. It was natural. Everybody had their part of the work. And so I love those little units for that; everybody is participating. So there is a lot of consecration associated with it.
One of the examples of consecration is going to the temple every year. At the time, it was a two-day trip — a long, tedious trip — going to Switzerland. We were in Bordeaux, on the other side of France. And so we went there and found a campsite where we could pitch our tent, family tent, and spend a wonderful week there. Of course, Switzerland is a beautiful country, and there are a lot of beautiful things to do that we enjoyed as children, but just how impressed I was with the house of the Lord. Even as a boy, if I could not get into the house, I felt the Spirit of that holy house.
And so I think that had a profound influence on me and on a lot of young people of my age at the time. It was interesting; you got to the Swiss temple, and you had boys and girls. When I became a little older and could do baptisms from Sweden, from Portugal, from Sicily, from Belgium, from Germany. And it was the United Nations of Europe, and most of us having more or less the same story of conversion of our parents, coming as a second generation of the Church. And there was a common foundation throughout Europe through that very iconic temple that was the first on continental Europe.
18:29
Sarah Jane Weaver: And there also had to be great excitement to see other young people and have a social opportunity to engage with others.
Elder Gérald Caussé: Because we were all from little wards or branches, and so we were not used to having big groups of youth. So to come to the Swiss temple and to find ourselves as a member of a great group of Latter-day Saints was very important for us. We were, most of the time, the only member of the Church in our own schools or high schools. And so feeling alone or lonely, people were considering us as different. And so it was good. It was before FSY, it was before all those conferences, and so the temple was a place of gathering.
And we had those trips to the temple as youth as well. We would leave Bordeaux and spend a whole night on the bus and arrive the next day or two days later in Bern and just stay at a — they had an atomic shelter — or however you say that — in Switzerland, where we would stay. So we were underground. It was really adventure. It was adventure, but we all remember this. And often when I go back to France, we share those memories with people of my age.
19:56
Sarah Jane Weaver: How did you meet your wife?
Elder Gérald Caussé: So, it was later. She is a Parisian. Well, I say it was later; not exactly. Actually, I met her for the first time in Primary because her grandparents lived in the same city where I lived. She was a Parisian living in Paris, but she would come regularly to see her grandparents on vacation trips, and that is how we met. She does not remember it, but I remember it. But it was later that we started dating, when I studied in a business school in Paris, and we belonged to the same YSA ward. Her dad was the bishop there, and I was his clerk.
I was not always the most available person for dating, busy with my studies, and I was the kind of person to be in books all the time and working hard. But she had a gift to — I told her, “You could see through the walls,” because I was often in that clerk’s office. And so she would open the door and talk to me, and I was not insensitive to how beautiful she was and joyful she was. And so we bonded over music as well. She loved to sing in the choir, and I was a pianist there, and so that is how we met, really, for the first time.
21:22
Sarah Jane Weaver: Now, this change means a lot of changes for her as well. Tell us some of her traits and qualities that she’s going to now be able to share for longer with the worldwide Church membership.
Elder Gérald Caussé: How many hours do you have? So, people who know her — and I will tell you about how I feel — but people who know her will say she is the most genuine and sincere person they have ever met. She is really true. She is authentic. When we go to conferences and she speaks, people will go around her at the end of the meeting, and they will congregate, and they will say how much they enjoyed her sincerity in her remarks. She is really her. She is not someone hiding anything. She shows her love, she shows her interest to people in a very warm and natural way. And so, she has been a great example to me for that. But now, if you see her in our family environment, She is outgoing, she likes to laugh. She is also full of faith.
I do remember when I was called as a general authority, I asked her a few days later, “What was your experience about saying yes to the Prophet for an invitation that changed our life forever?” Because we had to leave our country of France for the next 26 years of our life. So for me, it is my calling, but for her, there is all the consequences in terms of the family and the children. And she looked at me, and she said two things.
She said, “First, I didn’t need to think about it. I had already said yes a long time ago in the temple. And my yes is a yes forever.” And the second thing she said, she said, “One day, we will meet the Savior, and that day, I want to look at Him with confidence and thank Him for everything He has done for us. And I want to be able to say I have done my best.” It made all sense to me.
But she is full of faith, and she is also full of joy. Joy in our home is felt whenever there is something about the gospel or the Church. So our children grew up with that feeling that church was fun. That was a great thing.
24:05
Sarah Jane Weaver: That’s remarkable. And when you think about your life, from not just growing up around pioneer members with faithful parents to meeting her, there was also some preparation in a career that helped you prepare you for Church service.
Talk about your education. You were a business major, right? And then, what was it about your career that prepared you for the next step?
24:29
Elder Gérald Caussé: Right, you are never aware of that. There are a lot of things that happen in your career, and you never think, “It is going to help me in the Church.” But that is true that now I look back to my life, and it feels like a few things were orchestrated in heaven. Particularly, it became evident when I became a member of the Presiding Bishopric, which has responsibility for the temporal affairs of the Church, and I found in my previous experience a lot of reasons for being able to serve in the Presiding Bishopric.
I was for a number of years a strategy consultant working for a strategy firm, and that exposed me to a lot of big corporations, international corporations and their senior leadership, and it helped me understand the concept of leading a big organization. So that was very helpful to me. I used those concepts all the time in the Presiding Bishopric.
And some of them are special concepts, because the second thing I would like to say is I believe that Church service helped me more in my career than career helped me in Church service. I think that goes both ways, but even more the other way. When I finished with being a consultant, I wanted to work for a company that would provide me with opportunities to manage people. That was really what I wanted to do. When I say manage, I was interested in people. I have always been interested in developing people.
So I was looking for a firm that would give to a young professional opportunities to manage a lot of people. And I found this in retail and in food distribution. I became a managing director of a retail company — actually, it was a food distribution company — when I was 33 years old. It is an interesting story. My director at the time, I was a CFO, my director once called me into his office, and he said — he knew about my religion — but he said, “I heard there are rumors that you are a priest in your Church.” And I said, “That is true. I am a priest.” He said, “That is incredible.” And he said, “But have you done the seminary?” I said, “Yes, between the ages of 14 and 18.” And he was very stunned, actually.
He was himself a Catholic, a very devout Catholic, and that created a bond between us. And it was just a few months later that he called me into his office and he said, “We have a big company with 1,800 employees, and we would like you to become the managing director.” And I said, “I feel probably too young for that.” And he said, “But I know your values.”
So this is what I say, that service in the Church helps in your career. But I have enjoyed, since that time, managing people. And so now, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, that is a different approach. But all those experiences with people, managing people is very close to ministering to people. And so I have applied in management a lot of things that I experience in church.
27:58
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, and you’re just coming off of several years as the presiding bishop of the Church, where you also got to manage a lot of things. Can you tell us — this is something that the operations of the Church are broad, there’s depth, there’s countries, there’s languages.
What does it entail to be the presiding bishop? And then in that process, what did you learn? When you look back on that time as presiding bishop, what do you take away that made you who you are today?
28:27
Elder Gérald Caussé: The experience of the Presiding Bishopric increased my testimony of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. I have been amazed to see the organization of the Church and how it works so well when it was really designed by revelation given to a young Prophet, even Joseph Smith, that did not know about our time. He presided over a little church that was in its infancy, and he had that vision — Doctrine and Covenants 107 — of what the Church was going to become.
And we see the revelation about the role of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, the role of the bishops. With those two lines of the priesthood flowing down from the First Presidency — the line of the Melchizedek Priesthood through the Twelve and down to the bishops and the stake presidents — and then the other line, which is the Aaronic Priesthood, going through the bishopric and being in charge of temporal affairs of the Church and caring for the needy, to have imagined that organization that works so well today, an organization that works for a church that has been multiplied in terms of its size and reach — and it is totally global now — it is just amazing to me. It is such a testimony that young Joseph Smith was really, truly inspired and a visionary man thanks to the Spirit of God.
30:03
Sarah Jane Weaver: Now, as presiding bishop, you also had a chance to work closely with the Relief Society general presidency. What was that like to work side by side with the women leaders?
Elder Gérald Caussé: We really enjoyed — I personally enjoyed, we enjoyed — serving with the Relief Society general presidency. Those three sisters are just fantastic. And so, we especially associated with the welfare matters of the Church, of self-relliance and humanitarian matters of the Church. We met twice a month in the Welfare and Self-Reliance Executive Committee of the Church, just around the same table, discussing the same issues, and they were very active participants in that role.
And we enjoyed, we appreciated, every one of their comments, and they have taken a big role in the humanitarian organization of the Church, particularly in many projects dealing with nutrition and women and children and health, education, literacy — all of this is really driven by them reporting to that committee that we have together.
I enjoyed their unique view of the members of the Church, very one-by-one approach. Through their travels and meeting with the sisters of Church and the members of the Church, children and others, it was invaluable to get their feedback.
I also enjoyed the other organizations and sister leaders in Primary and Young Women. I was a member of the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, and so we had a lot of interactions, as well as we worked together on the programs and the activities of the Church and how especially to bless the rising generation of the Church.
32:00
Sarah Jane Weaver: Now, in the Quorum of the Twelve, you fill a spot that was created with the death of President Russell M. Nelson. You would have had the opportunity to meet with him regularly.
What can you say about him? What did you learn from him, his example, his testimony, his leadership?
32:14
Elder Gérald Caussé: It is a unique privilege for members of the Presiding Bishopric to report directly to the First Presidency. So, I had a chance for the past 13 years to meet with the First Presidency on a weekly basis with my counselors and receive their direction, but also watch a prophet at work. And President Nelson has been teaching us not only through word, but also through his behavior, conduct, the way he interacted with us, immensely.
There are a lot of things I could say about him, but one thing I could emphasize is his optimism. He was always the oldest person in the room, but he was always the one looking forward to the future. And especially when we started working on the plans for the Salt Lake Temple, he was always saying, “What does it mean in 50 years from now? What does it mean in 60 years?” And I really enjoyed that.
And during the pandemic, that was not easy times, and he was always positive and full of faith and looking to the future and hopeful. So, whenever I felt a little down or tired, I always thought of President Nelson, and that always gave me some boost, and I smiled whenever I thought about him. And of course, his incredible education, understanding of the world and of the many languages of the world, the cultures of the world, his ability to teach the simple gospel principles in a way that everybody would understand it, a lot of things, and his ability to connect with individuals and remember their names and be interested genuinely in every person. Truly a Prophet of God.
34:17
Sarah Jane Weaver: And now we have the opportunity to sustain President Dallin H. Oaks. What attributes do you see in him that inspire you?
Elder Gérald Caussé: I have known President Oaks for a long time as well, being a member of the First Presidency before he became the President of the Church, but even as a member of the Twelve. We had — my wife and I — many opportunities to travel with President and Sister Oaks. And so, I could say the same things I said about President Nelson about President Oaks. Let me just add a few things.
His mind is very bright, and whenever there is a meeting and there is a good question that needs to be asked, that is President Oaks asking it. His understanding of the Church of the members, the situation, the conditions of the world, the complexities of the world, is just remarkable. So I have enjoyed that particular trait of his personality. Also, his humility. You feel he is the brightest person in the room, but he will never let you know about this. He will never recognize it, and he will be the one saying, “But I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this.”
And so, I love that combination of great humility and incredibly sharp and bright mind. And to add to this power that is reflected in his words whenever he teaches the gospel, his courage is someone who is resilient and speaks with that tone of a prophet. And so the transition for me to see him become the Prophet was an immediate transition. I saw that mantle of a prophet fall down on him immediately after he became the President of the Church. It was just wonderful to see.
36:21
Sarah Jane Weaver: In 2022, President Nelson gave a broadcast that went throughout all of Europe, and he said, “The future of the Church in Europe is bright.” Now, we now have a fourth of the quorum that are from Europe.
What do you think about the future of the Church in Europe?
36:40
Elder Gérald Caussé: What I am observing in Europe is like a second harvest. So, there was the first harvest in the ’60s, when my parents were baptized, and a lot of the pioneers of the Church were baptized in many countries, and most of the chapels were built and created the foundations of the Church. There is a second harvest happening. Whenever I go back to France — but it is true in any other country of Europe — you find a lot of young people joining the Church, a lot of young adults. Many of them have contacted the Church themselves through the website or online interactions. And they want to receive the missionaries. They ask for it. They ask to understand the truth of the gospel. And you find them everywhere.
And then you have a second population of a diverse group of immigrants. And people are first generation in these countries, or second generation, and they are looking for something. And so you have that diversity of the Church in Europe. That fills me with a lot of hope, because it is a mix of a variety of origins and situations, and a lot of youth added to it that makes it a wonderful foundation for a second period of growth for the Church.
38:11
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, and you also have the designation of being the first native French-speaking Apostle in this dispensation. The Church is continuing to grow in places like Africa, so there’ll be more French-speaking members.
How do you feel about your native language and the ability to testify in French? It has to be very exciting to you.
38:30
Elder Gérald Caussé: Well, my birth country has a lot to offer — beautiful landscape, beautiful culture, history — but I think its greatest wealth is in its language. Beautiful language, an exquisite language. I love that language. I wish everybody could read “Les Misérables” in French, 2,000 pages. The most beautiful language you could ever find.
But of course, it is also a language that is growing in the Church, mostly thanks to our African members. And it is a global language. That is interesting, because you find French-speaking people almost on every continent, Quebec, in the Caribbean, in the Pacific, in Africa, in Europe. So that is one of those global languages that really I am going to appreciate to use more in the future, hoping to go to those countries and speaking in my native language and connecting with the people there. I am really looking forward to it.
At the same time, I am also recognized as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. I am not to have a favorite language. I am a global citizen now. I love the countries of the world and the people all over the world. That has been one of my favorite activities in the Presiding Bishopric, and I look forward to continuing as a member of the Twelve to visit the Latter-day Saints all over the world and getting to know them in their natural environment.
40:06
Sarah Jane Weaver: Great. On that note, let’s look forward. Besides getting to know the members, what else excites you about this opportunity?
Elder Gérald Caussé: Obviously, the greatest opportunity you have as a member of the Twelve is to testify of Jesus Christ, to be a special witness of Jesus Christ. We are all witnesses, all of us, members of the Church. We committed to testify of Jesus Christ and His mission, but there is something special about those 15 prophets, seers and revelators. I feel really humble with this, because I cannot obviously compare myself with any of those other men that I really love and admire a lot. But what comforts me is that ability to testify. Testifying is a simple thing. Because you received, you have a promise that the Holy Ghost is going to accompany the words of any genuine disciple of the Lord as a testifier of Christ, whatever the language, whatever your abilities to speak. It is not about education; it is about how fervent your testimony is in your heart.
And so this I can do, obviously. This has been my life, and over the past few days, my wife and I have been touched by the outpouring of love from the members of the Church. Many of them — family members, friends, but a lot of unknown people — they stop you on the street and just say, “We love you. We pray for you.” And love begets love. And so I have been feeling in myself an increase in my capacity to love others. And so I am looking forward to that. My heart is going to swell, but if I can share only part of the immense and infinite love of the Savior for people, if I can be that ambassador of love, I hope I can do that. I am looking forward to it.
42:16
Sarah Jane Weaver: You mentioned that you’d felt the love and the support and the prayers of members and friends across the globe.
What can members do to sustain and support the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve?
Elder Gérald Caussé: There are a lot of things that the members of the Church can do to support the Twelve and the First Presidency. But I hope, as a member of the Twelve, I can support them. That goes both ways, but I appreciate the love that we feel and the prayers of the Saints. These are very important. It has been impressive to see how much of the prayers of the Saints I have felt in the past few days. I believe in that. And so yes, prayer, but I hope I can also pray for them. We are all doing the same work, which is the work of the Lord. It is a sacred work that we do, and we are all united in expressing that love that we have for one another.
43:16
Sarah Jane Weaver: I was touched from some of your earlier interviews where you said when you first met with the Twelve, you felt the Savior’s love for you through them as well. I thought, “Wow, that is something that I hadn’t thought of that comes with being a special witness of the Savior.”
43:31
Elder Gérald Caussé: Absolutely. I have a lot to learn. I don’t know much about being a member of the Twelve. I know what I have experienced. I know what it is to be a member of the Church and meeting with a special witness of Jesus Christ. As a boy, I still remember every one of those occasions where a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited our city and spoke to us. And so I feel really humbled with this, because I don’t know if I can do that, but I know the Lord helps. And so I am looking forward to impressing on the mind and the hearts of the people a greater witness of Jesus Christ.
44:17
Sarah Jane Weaver: The Church News podcast has a tradition where they always end with the same question, and it’s: What do you know now? And I’m sure lots of things have occurred to you in recent days. And we’d also love for you to share your testimony with us.
So, what do you know now, after being ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
44:38
Elder Gérald Caussé: As a newly called Apostle of Jesus Christ, I have learned that I can love even more. My testimony is very simple. It is that Jesus is the Christ. His Church is again upon the earth. It is where everyone can find the love of the Savior in the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, help that is needed through brothers and sisters that are unified together, living the gospel in a way that is blessing their lives forever. I know this is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
45:32
Jon Ryan Jensen: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m your host, Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
