Oct 6, 2024 - News

Mormon church announces 17 new temples

Erin Alberty

A large church building lit from the outside in the evening. — The temple in the Los Olivos district of Lima, Peru was dedicated in January. Photo courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced 17 new temple locations Sunday, with sites planned from Utah to Africa.

The big picture: Church President Russell M. Nelson has made temple-building a hallmark of his time in leadership, more than doubling the 182 temples that were built or in planning when he assumed the church's highest office in 2018.

Temples house important ceremonies, and the announcement of a new one typically generates excitement among members and publicity for the church in the cities where they're built.

The intrigue: The flurry of massive builds has led to contentious zoning disputes in multiple states as the church invokes religious freedom protections to exceed normal size limits in residential and rural neighborhoods.

By the numbers: The biggest share of the new temples announced during the weekend's General Conference are planned for sites in the United States, with three in the Mountain West:

Price, Utah
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Queen Creek, Arizona
El Paso, Texas
Huntsville, Alabama
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Summit, New Jersey

Zoom in: Five are planned for Latin American countries, consistent with the faith's growth among Latino believers. Those locations are:

Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico
Santa Ana, El Salvador
Medellín, Colombia
Santiago, Dominican Republic
Puerto Montt, Chile

Zoom out: Three were announced for Africa: Maputo, Mozambique; Abuja, Nigeria and Kampala, Uganda

In Europe, where growth is relatively slow among most Christian churches, temples were announced for Dublin, Ireland and Milan, Italy.

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Mormon church announces 17 new temples

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