The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
“We are eager to return the temples to full operation as soon as possible,” President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring wrote in a March 15 letter. “Now that more people are immunized, we are pleased to announce that temples throughout the world will gradually return to more normal operations, including the elimination of face masks and capacity restrictions.”
The return to normal operations for each temple will be based on local circumstances and be made by the temple presidency and area presidency, in consultation with the Church’s Temple Department.
In the letter — sent to general and local Church leaders, including temple presidencies — the First Presidency thanked members for their patience during the restricted temple operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are grateful for the sacred work performed in temples,” concluded the letter, published online on Churchof JesusChrist.org. “We trust that our members will rejoice in the lessening of restrictions and will increase their commitment to temple and family history work.”
Two years of pandemic-period adjustments
The letter comes nearly two full years after the Church closed all of its temples worldwide in late March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, all but one of the Church’s 170 dedicated temples have returned to offering all living and proxy ordinances, but at limited capacity for patrons.
After the March 2020 temple closures, the Church began to reopen its temples seven weeks later, advancing their operations in a careful and cautious four-phase plan that has continued since.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
