The return of temple dedications

President Russell M. Nelson, right, and Sister Wendy Nelson smile at participants while Verona Italy Stake President Andrea Cordani, center, translates as his son, Mateo, listens in the left foreground during the Rome Italy Temple dedication on March 10, 2019, in Rome, Italy. | Tad Walch, Deseret News

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There now are 97 temples in the construction pipeline for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including all of the unprecedented 83 temples announced by President Russell M. Nelson.

The church hasn’t opened a new temple in 20 months, so when will the construction begin to catch up to the announcements?

The first temple dedication since the start of the pandemic is scheduled on Oct. 31, when Elder Gerrit W. Gong will dedicate the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple.

That will be a big deal for several reasons.

First, it will kick off a new spate of dedications, the first since February 2020, when the Durban South Africa Temple was dedicated.

Here’s what is planned so far:

• Winnipeg Manitoba Temple dedication, Oct. 31.
• Pocatello Idaho Temple dedication, Nov. 7.
• Mesa Arizona Temple rededication, Dec. 12.
• Washington D.C. Temple rededication, June 19.
• The Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple is complete and is now 17 months past the date it initially was to be dedicated in May 2020, according to the church, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Construction on additional temples is expected to be completed in 2022.

Second, the Winnipeg dedication will end one of the longest temple projects in church history. Only six temples took longer to complete from the time they were announced until they were dedicated. Winnipeg was announced in April 2011, but construction did not begin until the end of 2016. Part of the overall delay was caused by the pandemic, which postponed the dedication for a year, according to the church.

Here is a list of the longest durations between a temple’s announcement and dedication:

1. Salt Lake Temple (1893): 45 years, 8 months, 9 days.
2. Los Angeles California Temple (1956): 19 years, 5 days.
3. Guayaquil Ecuador Temple (1999): 17 years, 4 months, 1 day.
4. Bogotá Colombia Temple (1999): 15 years, 17 days.
5. Manti Utah Temple (1888): 12 years, 10 months, 26 days.
6. Kyiv Ukraine Temple (2010): 12 years, 1 month, 9 days.
7. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple (2021): 10 years, 6 months, 29 days.
8. Rome Italy Temple (2019): 10 years, 5 months, 6 days.
9. Cardston Alberta Temple (1923): 10 years, 1 month, 29 days.
10. Fortaleza Brazil Temple (2019): 9 years, 7 months, 30 days.

When all of the 44 temples now in active construction and 53 temples in stages of planning for construction are complete, the church will have 265 operating temples.

That’s a 67% increase from the 159 operating temples the church had at the start of President Nelson’s tenure as prophet.

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Elders Ronald A. Rasband and Gerrit W. Gong led media tours of the Mesa Arizona Temple on Monday. You can see photo galleries of the those tours and the inside of the renovated temple. The media tours and a public open house that begins Saturday and runs through Nov. 20 follow the temple’s second renovation, which began in May 2018. The temple will be rededicated on Dec. 12 by President Dallin H. Oaks.

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Behind the scenes

Tad Walch, Deseret News

President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy Nelson smile at participants during the dedication ceremonies for the Rome Italy Temple on March 10, 2019, in Rome, Italy. Only six Latter-day Saint temples have been dedicated since then because of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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