SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – In the days after Mormon Church president and prophet Gordon B. Hinckley is laid to rest, the men who served as his closest advisers will begin the process of choosing a successor.
But the deliberations after Saturday will not hold the intrigue of the election of a Roman Catholic pope, during which geography, politics and other factors combine in a process that ends with white smoke puffing from a chimney.
At least in modern days, choosing the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come down to the simple matter of who is next in line for an office unique among religious traditions. …full story