Rome Mission President, Jeffrey Acerson, was visibly moved by the news: “The Saints in Italy have waited a long time. We’re excited, we’re anxious and we’re very humbled by the decisionof  prophet of the Lord to move forward with a temple in Rome.” When he first heard the news, President Acerson commented:  “I felt like all the Saints here in Italy wanted to go into the streets to let everyone know a temple is coming,” he said.

There are currently more than 22,000 Mormons in Italy now, with the first Italian mission opened in August of 1850.

The temple opens the way for Saints in many areas to travel to Rome rather than to Bern, Switzerland in order to share in the blessings of eternal families, and to partake of the spiritual learning that the temple offers.

Other European temples include:

• Bern, Switzerland
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Freiberg, Germany
• Helsinki, Finland
• Kiev, Ukraine
• London, England
• Madrid, Spain
• Preston, England
• Stockholm, Sweden
• The Hague, Netherlands

Temples are the Lord’s houses on the earth. In these dedicated buildings, anyone who has conformed to the commandments of the Lord or who is so striving to do, and who has been baptized by God’s ministers on the earth (priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and who is twelve or older can enter and serve in a holy temple.  It is a place of peace and revelation, a place of service and of learning. Special ordinances, including baptisms, confirmations, and sealings of couples together forever, occurs in these edifices. They are not secret but sacred.  In these temples, as in temples of old, the children of God are reminded of the answers to life’s questions, the role of the Savior and His atonement in personal progression, and receive the ordinances necessary to continue relationships beyond this grave and extend the gospel to millions who have passed on without having had such an opportunity.