A look at some of the oldest religious leaders in the world

The top leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is celebrating a milestone birthday, his 100th.

Like the president of the Utah-based faith — commonly known as the Mormon church — leaders of religions worldwide commonly stay at the helm well past normal retirement age.

Counting Latter-day Saints

-100

Russell M. Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, turns 100 years old on Sept. 9, 2024.

-1924

This is Nelson’s birth year.

—By year’s end, the church had 597,861 members.

—In total, there were 1,685 congregations.

—There were 25 missions.

-2024

This is the centennial of Nelson’s birth.

—Today, there are about 17.3 million Latter-day Saints.

—Church membership has grown 3.8% so far in 2024. Last year, the number of Latter-day Saints rose 1.5%.

—At the end of 2023, there were 31,490 congregations.

—There are 450 missions.

-6

Six of the 15 men in the Mormon church’s top leadership panels are 80 or older. President Nelson (100), Dallin Oaks (92), Henry B. Eyring (91), Jeffrey Holland (83), Dieter Uchtdorf (83), Quentin Cook (84).

Counting other faith traditions

-99

Alexandre do Nascimento, the archbishop emeritus of Luanda, Angola, is the oldest living Catholic cardinal. He was born March 1, 1925.

RELATED COVERAGE The Mormon church’s president, already the oldest in the faith’s history, is turning 100

-94

Ali al-Sistani, the grand ayatollah who is the senior religious figure for the world’s 200 million Shia Muslims, is 94.

-93

In the Catholic Church, the oldest-serving pope ever was Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at age 93.

-89

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, is 89.

-87

Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church, is 87.

-84

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who leads Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, is 84.

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