c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was credited with creating a more global, more visible church, died Sunday (Jan. 27) at age 97.

Church officials in Salt Lake City said Hinckley died at 7 p.m. at his apartment of causes “incident to age.”

Known for expanding the Mormon faith throughout the world, Hinckley personally brought his church’s message to some 60 countries total and oversaw the construction of a string of new temples around the world where the most sacred rituals in Mormon life could be practiced.

When he died, the Mormon Church counted close to 13 million members in 171 nations and territories.

If the traditional church process is followed, Hinckley will likely be succeeded by Thomas S. Monson, who has served as first counselor to Hinckley and president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Church leaders said that election would not be held until after Hinckley’s funeral.

Hinckley’s death comes at a time of unprecedented exposure for the Mormon faith, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney running to be the nation’s first Mormon president. “Like all people who knew him, we were deeply touched by his humility, his sense of humor and by the way he inspired so many people around the world,” Romney said of Hinckley.

Hinckley’s world travels and his strong commitment to faith began in 1933 when he was assigned as a missionary in Great Britain. Hinckley was a regular fixture in London’s Hyde Park, standing on a box in a corner preaching to anyone who would listen to his message.

“The testimony grew in my heart as a missionary when I read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, which further bore witness to Him,” Hinckley told thousands of church members during his 90th birthday celebration in Salt Lake City, his birthplace and home. “That knowledge became the foundation of my life, standing on the footings of the answered prayers of my childhood.”

Hinckley endorsed the rigorous tenets of his church, which prohibits alcohol, tobacco and caffeine and encourages exercise. Hinckley described Mormonism as the most demanding religion in America.

“That’s one of the things that attracts people to this church,” Hinckley told “60 Minutes” reporter Mike Wallace in an April 1996 interview. “It stands as an anchor in a world of shifting values.”

The church’s position on the rights and roles of blacks shifted in 1978, when the church renounced its ban on blacks in the priesthood. Hinckley was an apostle in the church at the time.

During Hinckley’s presidency, he spoke before the NAACP, a first for a Mormon president. He was also the first Mormon president to visit West Africa, touring Nigeria and Ghana as well as Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa in 1998.

Concerned with the church’s image, Hinckley hired a public relations firm during his tenure and downplayed some of the more unusual elements of the religion, like the sacred undergarments worn by devout members.

Hinckley also guided the church _ albeit from behind the scenes _ when Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Hinckley promised that church members “would be good hosts” to the thousands of visiting athletes and spectators.

When Hinckley became president in 1995, the church had 47 temples. By 2008, it had 124, with another 12 planned or under construction.

Hinckley was ordained a church prophet on March 12, 1995, following in the wake of church founder, Joseph Smith, and his successor, Brigham Young.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush in 2004.

Hinckley was married to Marjorie Pay Hinckley for 67 years; she died in 2004. He and his wife had five children _ Kathleen, Virginia, Cynthia Jane, Richard and Clark; they had 25 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren. He was the author of “Standing for Something: Ten Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.”

When asked by reporters at his 90th birthday celebration what he believed his legacy would be, Hinckley said: “I don’t know and I don’t care! That’s not my concern. I’m not trying to build some legacy of some kind. I’m just trying to move the work forward the best way I know how. And, as I believe the Lord would have it move forward. And let the future take care of itself.”

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