Elder Gérald Caussé is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We are excited to learn from him throughout his ministry.
Here are some inspiring stories about his life, interests, and testimony.
His parents, Jean and Marie-Blanche Bonnet Caussé, grew up in Algeria, a country in North Africa. Algeria was a French colony at the time. Jean and Marie-Blanche later moved to Bordeaux, France, where Elder Caussé was born.
When he was five months old, his parents were baptized. Because there was no meetinghouse yet in Bordeaux, they were baptized in a collapsible swimming pool in the missionaries’ apartment. “It was a humble beginning, but it changed my life and the life of our family!” Elder Caussé told LDS Living in 2019.
- He accepted his first Church calling at age 12. He served as the Primary pianist. “I have always said yes to the Lord,” Elder Caussé said in an interview with the media after his call to the Twelve.
- Elder Caussé married Valérie Lucienne Babin on August 5, 1986, in the Bern Switzerland Temple. The couple met in a young single adult ward in Paris. They became engaged on top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Of his wife, Elder Caussé said, “There’s no way I could do what I’m doing without her. She’s the sunshine of my life.”
- The Caussés have five grown children. According to Newsroom, their family motto is to go where the Lord wants them to go.
- Elder Caussé loves music and is an accomplished pianist. “Music is an important part of my life,” he said. “This language [of music] transcends every culture. You don’t need to know the language of the people to communicate with them through music. I’ve always viewed music as a way to communicate with God and to feel the Spirit.”
- In 2019, he released an album of piano music with Nicolas Giusti, who is an accomplished Italian composer and conductor. The two met at a stake conference in Rome 10 years prior. Their album Joyful reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Classical Album chart. Joyful includes a uniquely happy, upbeat arrangement of “Where Can I Turn for Peace?” Watch Elder Caussé perform it with Nicolas below.
You can also watch him play a rendition of “Come, Come Ye Saints” below.
In 2019, Elder Caussé told LDS Living that his favorite hymn is “Master, the Tempest Is Raging.”
“I loved to play it as a teenager,” he said. “I loved the story of the Lord on a ship sleeping on a pillow. I had a lot of anxiety, and it taught me that if I stayed close to the Lord, I would be safe.”
Elder Caussé has a master’s degree in business and worked in the food industry. He was the managing director for France’s largest food distributor before his call as a full-time General Authority Seventy.
After his call, President Boyd K. Packer asked to meet with him. President Packer gave him a paper with 1 Corinthians chapter 2 printed on it. The chapter talks about how inadequate the Apostle Paul felt.
“This is exactly me,” Elder Caussé thought to himself at the time. “I’ve just been called as a Seventy, and I don’t know if I can do this.” Then President Packer gave him some advice.
“He [said] that your faith shall not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God, and I realized that it was not about how people think that I am, but it’s about being humble enough that the power of God might be manifest through my acts and words,” Elder Caussé told LDS Living in 2019.
- He was called to be the Presiding Bishop for the Church in October 2015. He was the first Presiding Bishop for whom English is a second language.
Elder Caussé spoke for the first time in general conference in 2008. His talk was called, “Even a Child Can Understand.” He has spoken a total of seven times in general conference.
Additionally, he has given devotionals at Brigham Young University twice and at Brigham Young University–Idaho and Ensign College at least once.
- In his first interview with the media after his call to the Twelve, Elder Caussé bore his testimony of the Savior.
“There is a Christ, there is a Savior and Redeemer for all mankind. That Redeemer has a universal responsibility. He took that responsibility to save all of us. But this gift that is made is also incredibly personal and intimate. He knows every one of us. We are all together on the same planet, living through the same kind of experience, but also having a personal relationship with a God who made us.”
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