Elder Gérald Caussé is the newest member of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President Dallin H. Oaks called Elder Caussé, 62, to the lifelong position on Thursday. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve then ordained him to serve as one of the “special witnesses of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world.”
Elder Caussé described the meeting in a video released Thursday.
“I think I’ve seldom felt so much love from the brethren I admire, that I love so much, and they embraced me,” he said. “It was probably one of the most emotional moments of my life, but I could feel the love of God and the love of Christ in my life through them. That’s a way that they are special witnesses of Christ, emulating them.”
Elder Caussé fills the vacancy in the Twelve created by the death of President Russell M. Nelson on Sept. 27.
“I’ve always had a testimony of Jesus Christ,” Elder Caussé said in a statement. “He’s always been in the center of my life. I know Jesus Christ lives. And I know He’s our Savior and Redeemer. What a wonderful thing it is to be a witness of Christ. That’s the best responsibility or stewardship we might have in our lives.”
Elder Caussé spent the past decade as the church’s presiding bishop, overseeing all of the church’s financial affairs, including its humanitarian spending and maintenance of its temples and meetinghouses.
He had served for a total of 13 years in the Presiding Bishopric, having been the first counselor from 2012 to 2015.
Elder Caussé served as president of the Paris France Stake from 2001 to 2007. He was called as an Area Seventy in April 2007 and as a General Authority Seventy on April 5, 2008, when he was 44.
He previously worked as a businessman, having earned the equivalent of a Master’s in Business Administration degree. When he was called as a general authority, he was managing director of Pomona, France’s largest food distributor.
Apostles are called to lifetime service. President Nelson served as an apostle for 41 years, from 1984 to his death on Sept. 27.
“I feel overwhelmed, of course,” Elder Caussé said. “It’s a shock when you don’t plan for such a thing to happen in your life, but I also feel a lot of joy today. There’s joy, not in the circumstance, but in the focus of our lives, to know that I’ve been called to be a special witness of Christ is something that brings joy to my life, to the life of my family, to my heart, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Elder Caussé focused his most recent general conference address on the hope found in Jesus Christ.
“This message of hope and comfort is for all of us, children of God,” Elder Caussé said. “None of us can escape the challenges and limitations of mortality. After all, we are all born with an inherent incapacity to save ourselves. Yet we have a loving Savior, and ‘we know that it is by (his) grace that we are saved, after all we can do.’”
Elder Caussé was born in Bordeaux, France, on May 20, 1963. He is married to Valérie Babin Caussé. They have five children.
“My parents joined the church when I was a little baby,” he once told the Church News, noting that he was raised in small congregations filled with first-generation Latter-day Saints. “We started from simple beginnings.”
As a young man, he served for a year in the French Air Force assigned to a NATO agency.
He is the first Frenchman to serve in the apostleship.
“I’ve enjoyed in my years as a presiding bishop to visit countries around the world,” he said. “I’m very happy to continue that way as an apostle in testifying to the many nations of the world.
“French, of course, is my heart, so if I go to a French-speaking country, I will love it. I will connect with the people, but I wish I could speak a lot of languages. I love that connection we can have with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.”
His call is a continuation of the internationalization of the Twelve, which now features an elder from France, one from Germany (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf), one from England (Elder Patrick Kearon) and another from Brazil (Elder Ulisses Soares).
It is rare for an apostle to be called outside of the church’s international general conferences in April and October. President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Patrick Kearon are the only other current quorum members called outside the conference schedule.
Elder Caussé becomes the second apostle in a row to be called outside of a conference. President Nelson called Elder Kearon as an apostle in December 2023 after the death of President M. Russell Ballard.
This marks the first time two consecutive apostles have been called outside of general conferences in more than 100 years. Melvin J. Ballard in 1919 and John A. Widtsoe in 1921 were the last two members of the Twelve consecutively called outside of conference.
As the steward of the church’s finances while serving as the presiding bishop, Elder Caussé focused heavily on environmental stewardship and sustainability.
As directed by church presidents, under his leadership the church increased its humanitarian spending by 60% from 2020 to 2024. It rose from $906 million in 2021 to $1.45 billion in 2024.
Presiding bishops oversee the design, construction and maintenance of temples, meetinghouses, seminary and institute buildings and other real estate, the commercial farming enterprises of the church and its real estate investment properties such as City Creek in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They also focus on the scriptural charge to care for the poor by directing the church’s welfare and humanitarian programs. Membership records and the collection of tithes and offerings also come under their purview.
Members of the presiding bishopric also have ecclesiastical duties. They hold the keys to the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood.
Elder Caussé also oversaw the church’s welfare programs and service arms, including JustServe.
He said the church has been intentional about providing people with service opportunities because service often blesses the giver as much as the receiver.
“That‘s our goal — to uplift both, givers and receivers,“ he said.
Bishop Caussé said the church’s JustServe app and online platform recently reached the milestone of connecting 1 million volunteers to service opportunities. More than 18,000 organizations in 18 countries have posted service opportunities, and there are now more than 300 JustServe clubs in high schools, he said.
“Service may be the most powerful force for good,” he said. “As a church, we actively seek ways to bring people from all walks of life together to experience the joy of serving one another.”
He is the second presiding bishop in a row called to the apostleship. Elder Gary E. Stevenson served as presiding bishop prior to his calling as an apostle in 2015. Elder Caussé served as Elder Stevenson’s counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.
Elder Caussé has delivered seven general conference talks.