President Russell M. Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away on September 27, 2025. At 101 years of age, he was the world’s oldest leader of a global faith organization. How is a new president of the Church selected?
The Church has an organizational structure that provides a clear governance of the Church and an orderly succession when a leader of the Church dies.
- First Presidency. The highest-ranking governing body in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the First Presidency, consisting of the President of the Church and his two counselors, or advisers. This three-man body supervises the work of the entire Church in all matters of policy, organization, and administration.
- Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The second-highest presiding body in Church government is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Apostles serve under the direction of the First Presidency and have heavy administrative responsibilities to oversee the orderly progress and development of the Church throughout the world. The First Presidency and Twelve Apostles are regarded by Latter-day Saints as leaders who receive divine revelation and inspiration to guide the Church.
Each of these 15 men are ordained as Apostles of Jesus Christ. The longest-serving Apostle serves as the President of the Church.
Seniority and Succession in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is determined by date of ordination, not by age or other factors. (If two Apostles are ordained on the same day, the older of the two is typically ordained first.) The most senior Apostle serves as President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
When one of the Apostles dies, a new Apostle is selected by the President of the Church and sustained by the membership of the Church at a general conference. The new Apostle becomes the most junior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Succession in the First Presidency
When the President of the Church dies, the First Presidency is dissolved, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes the presiding council of the Church. The period of time between the death of a prophet and the reorganization of the First Presidency is referred to as an “apostolic interregnum.” Therefore, upon the death of President Nelson, his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring, were released, and the First Presidency was dissolved. Elder Oaks and Elder Eyring then returned to their respective positions of seniority in the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. (See chart below.) President Dallin H. Oaks, as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve became the highest-ranking official in the Church.
Chart of Seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Below is a chart of the current Apostles, listed by seniority.
| Seniority | Name | Date Ordained as Apostle | Age Today |
| 1 | Dallin H. Oaks | 5/3/1984 | 93 |
| 2 | Jeffrey R. Holland | 6/23/1994 | 84 |
| 3 | Henry B. Eyring | 4/1/1995 | 92 |
| 4 | Dieter F. Uchtdorf | 10/2/2004 | 84 |
| 5 | David A. Bednar | 10/2/2004 | 73 |
| 6 | Quentin L. Cook | 10/6/2007 | 85 |
| 7 | D. Todd Christofferson | 4/5/2008 | 80 |
| 8 | Neil L. Andersen | 4/4/2009 | 74 |
| 9 | Ronald A. Rasband | 10/3/2015 | 74 |
| 10 | Gary E. Stevenson | 10/3/2015 | 70 |
| 11 | Dale G. Renlund | 10/3/2015 | 72 |
| 12 | Gerrit W. Gong | 3/31/2018 | 71 |
| 13 | Ulisses Soares | 3/31/2018 | 66 |
| 14 | Patrick Kearon | 12/7/2023 | 64 |
Process of Succession
The appointment of a new President of the Church happens in an orderly way that avoids internal lobbying for position or rank. When the President of the Church passes away, the following events take place:
- The First Presidency is automatically dissolved and the two counselors in the First Presidency revert to their places of seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
- The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, now numbering 14 and headed by Elder Dallin H. Oaks as the senior Apostle, assumes Church leadership.
- The senior Apostle presides at a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve to consider reorganizing the First Presidency. The Church has not yet announced when that meeting will take place. The Quorum of the Twelve unanimously selects the new President of the Church. (Throughout the history of the Church, the longest-serving Apostle has always become the President of the Church when the First Presidency has been reorganized.)
- The new President of the Church chooses two counselors and the three of them become the new First Presidency.
- The Apostle who has served the second longest is sustained as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (If the second-longest-serving Apostle is also called to be a counselor in the First Presidency, he is still the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but the third-longest-serving Apostle becomes the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.)
- The President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, along with the rest of the Apostles, sets apart the new President of the Church through a formal laying on of hands.
- The President of the Church names a new Apostle to fill the vacancy.
- The new President of the Church and new Apostles are sustained by the membership of the Church at a general conference.
Infographics
An infographic published by ThreeStory.com shows how long each of the Latter-day Saint apostles have been serving in the Quorum of the Twelve, when they were called, and their age now. Click the image below to go to an interactive infographic, where you can mouse over the photos to see details for each apostle.
ThreeStory.com also has an interactive graphic of all 100 members of the Twelve called since 1835, which you can sort by age, age at time of call, or by length of tenure.
Elder Eyring was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 1, 1995 (not on April 6th). Here is the link to the conference report. The date of the first meeting was April 1st.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1995/04/the-solemn-assembly-sustaining-of-church-officers?lang=eng
Thanks for catching my typo. I’ve updated the article with April 1, 1995.
A key thing to keep in mind is that the order is based on when they were ordained an apostle and given standing in the Quorum of the 12.
Since The 2 events have been almost always connected we do not see the normal implications of this. However decision on exactly how this works have effected seniority.
In 1838 there were I believe 4 vacancies in the 12 and 4 men were called. Initially their order in the twelve was based on age when they were called. This have Wilford Woodruff more seniority that John Taylor. However because the men were spread out and this was pre-telehraph and before there were any rail lines, the actual ordination took a few weeks or maybe months to happen. So Elder Taylor was ordained before Elder Woodruff. Later it was decided to base standing on time or ordination.
On the other hand Brigham Young ordained one of his sons as an apostle without him having a clear call either to the 12 or the First Presidency, and he called a few additional counselors in the First Presidency. I think Brigham Young Jr. Was first ordained an apostle, then made an additional counselor at least a year if not a few years later, and a few years after that placed in the Quorum of the 12. Joseph F. Smith was ordained an apostle later than Brigham Young Jr. but placed in the 12 before, so at dome point it was decided Josrph F. Smith had more seniority.
We see this with President Nelson and President Oaks. President Oaks was ordained an apostle a month later. He was also not present at April 1984 general conference.
So if President Oaks is called home between now (Saturday of October 2025 General Conference) and before a new First Presidency is called, he will go down in history as the the senior apostle who never became President?
When did the Assistant to the Quorum of 12 Apostles begin? I remember as a kid that they had them. I believe Spencer W. KIMBALL ended the assistant’s somewhere in the mid 70s