Rome Italy Stake President De Feo was raised in southern Italy and shares his story of joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with a little bit about the Italian culture, the challenges the Italian LDS members face, and the growth of the Church in Italy.
Facts about the LDS Church in Italy
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Italy has 3 missions, 6 stakes and 36 wards.
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The first missionaries arrived in Genova, Italy on June 25, 1850. One of those missionaries was Elder Lorenzo Snow, who later became the fifth president of the Church. Most proselytizing in Italy stopped in the early 1860's because of local opposition and the movement of many Italian members immigrating to Utah. Permission was granted for missionaries to proselyte again on January 27, 1965
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Elder Lorenzo Snow dedicated the country of Italy for the preaching of the gospel on September 19, 1850 in the city of La Tour.
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After years of lobbying, the Church gained legal status in the country on February 22, 1993 when Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro signed the legislation.
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The Rome Italy Stake was created by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve on May 22, 2005.
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The Rome Italy Temple was announced on October 4, 2008 in the Saturday morning session of General Conference. The Rome Italy temple will be the twelfth temple in Europe and the first temple in Italy.
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President Massimo De Feo shares that since the announcement of the Rome Italy Temple, the Stake is seeing full families joining the Church for the first time and that in the last five years the number of stakes in Italy have increased from three to six.
Visit this Church News article for more information about the LDS Church in Italy.
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