Rome (CNN)Italy’s first ever Mormon temple opened on Monday, just a few miles up the road from the Vatican, in the Eternal City of Rome.
While the building’s spires don’t reach the heights of St. Peter’s 450-foot-high dome, the Pope’s new neighbors hope their temple will also become a place of pilgrimage for spiritual seekers.
Elder Ronald Rasband, one of 12 men known as Apostles who govern the Mormon Church, says the choice of Rome is based on its history as the center of Christianity.
