A senior Mormon leader will speak at a Vatican conference on marriage opened by Pope Francis later this month.
SALT LAKE CITY — An LDS Church leader will join Pope Francis and other faith leaders this month at an interreligious Vatican conference that seeks to "support and reinvigorate" marriage between a man and a woman.
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be one of more than 30 speakers at "The Complementarity of Man and Woman: An International Colloquium."
Pope Francis, who last year said "It is very important to reaffirm the family, which remains the essential cell of society," will give the opening address at the three-day conference Nov. 17-19.
Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus are among those representing 14 faith traditions from 23 countries.
The LDS Church also issued a statement about the interfaith conference:
"At this time of rapidly declining moral values and the challenges to traditional family structures and relationships throughout the world, we are pleased to unite with the Catholic Church, other fellow Christian denominations and other world religions in standing firm and speaking clearly about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman."
Other witnesses include The Rev. Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He wrote about the conference Monday on his blog under the headline, "Why I'm going to the Vatican."
“I am willing to go anywhere, when asked, to bear witness to what we as evangelical Protestants believe about marriage and the gospel, especially in times in which marriage is culturally imperiled."
Rev. Moore also wrote that he "has been charitably (I hope) critical of Pope Francis," including last month during the widely publicized Vatican Synod on the Family, held Oct. 5-19.
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