New Mormon President Ordained
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SALT LAKE CITY — Gordon B. Hinckley, 84, a lifelong Mormon Church bureaucrat, counselor and administrator, was ordained Sunday as the faith’s 15th president.
Although a church announcement did not mention Hinckley by name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates under a system of apostolic succession in which the senior apostle--Hinckley in this case--becomes president after his predecessor dies.
Howard W. Hunter, 87, died March 3 of prostate cancer, having served just nine months, the shortest presidency in church history.
The ordination of presidents is private, with the faith’s 14 apostles in attendance in the Salt Lake Temple.
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