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| Massimo De Feo | |
|---|---|
| General Authority Seventy | |
| April 2, 2016 – [1] [ not in citation given ] | |
| Called by | Thomas S. Monson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 14, 1960 Taranto, Italy |
Massimo De Feo (born 14 December 1960) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since April 2016.[ citation needed ] He is the first Italian national to become a general authority of the LDS Church. [2] [ non-primary source needed ]
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a general authority is a member of the highest levels of leadership in the church who has administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church. A general authority's jurisdiction is church-wide, in contrast to the responsibilities of a local authority or an area authority, which relate to a particular area, unit, or department of the church. As a group, the general authorities are often referred to as "the Brethren". As of October 2017, there are 109 general authorities.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian, Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 16 million members and 67,000 full-time volunteer missionaries. In 2012, the National Council of Churches ranked the church as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States, with over 6.5 million members reported by the church, as of January 2018. It is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.
De Feo was born in Taranto, Italy. He was baptized into the LDS Church at age nine after he met Mormon missionaries. His older brother joined the church with him, but his parents did not. In 1979, De Feo received a diploma in sciences from the Moscati State Scientific School of Taranto. From 1981 to 1983, he was a church missionary in the Italy Rome Mission. From 1984 to 2016, De Feo was employed in Italy by the United States Department of State, working at the American embassy in Rome.
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.
Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the LDS Church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and community service. Mormon missionaries may serve on a full- or part-time basis, depending on the assignment, and are organized geographically into missions. The mission assignment could be to any one of the 407 missions organized worldwide.
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area. As of July 2018, there were 407 missions of the LDS Church. On January 2, 2019, the LDS Church announced changes that will close 12 missions through boundary realignments and open up 4 new ones, effective July 1, 2019. When these changes take place, there will be 399 missions of the church.
In the LDS Church, De Feo has been a branch president, district president, stake president, [3] and an area seventy. [4] In 2007, while serving as president of the church's Rome Italy Stake, De Feo represented the church in giving a speech to the Scientific Committee of the Interior Ministry of Italy.[ citation needed ] The Committee was seeking to advise the Italian Council of Ministers on the integration of immigrants in society.[ citation needed ] De Feo pointed out that about a third of Italian Latter-day Saints were non-European immigrants, and explained language teaching programs and other ways the church sought to integrate immigrants with native born members. [5] De Feo was also president of the Rome Italy Stake in 2008 when the church announced that the Rome Italy Temple would be built and, while serving in that position, attended its 2010 groundbreaking.[ citation needed ] He became a general authority seventy at the church's April 2016 general conference.[ citation needed ] He spoke at the General Conference, 2018. [6] [ relevant? ]
A branch president is a leader of a "branch" congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A district of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches. A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is analogous to a stake of the church. The leader of a district is the mission president, who selects a local district president as his agent. The district president may choose two men to assist him; the three together form the district presidency. The three members of the district presidency are given the honorific title "President".
A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes". A stake is sometimes referred to as a stake of Zion.
