Positive Media Coverage

While traveling in Central America, President Hinckley met with representatives from several news publications. Following are translated excerpts from a few of the reports published after his visit:

“Be good people, respect each other, work hard, and strengthen the family. … This is the message from the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who visited our country this week. …

“The religious leader toured Central America this week and visited San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, where he met with 20,000 people in two meetings in stadiums in both cities.

“During his messages, President Hinckley asked the thousands of Hondurans who were there to hear him to look for ways of strengthening the family, because that is the principal nucleus of society and at the same time the strength of a nation. ‘If a country has strong families, it will then become a strong nation,’ he said. …

“Prophet Hinckley is an 86-year-old man but possesses the strength and personality of a youth, with an ability to respond in a simple, clear, and spontaneous manner to all questions he is asked.

“His followers consider him to be the youngest 86-year-old man they have ever met because of his youthful step, vivaciousness of spirit, and his extraordinary disposition to hard work and long working hours” (La Tribuna, 25 January 1996, San Pedro Sula, Honduras).

“As a preamble to his message, [President Hinckley] commented: ‘During the visit to this region, we have enjoyed our interaction with the people, and we are grateful for the peace which has been granted and for the efforts of this government. This is a great country, and it has been very good with us as a church, and we believe that we have helped with the strengthening of this country by sustaining the family in its tasks’” (Prensa Libre, Guatemala City, 29 January 1997).

“President Hinckley said membership has reached 72,000 [Salvadorans] and is growing by 5,000 members annually.

“‘We are extremely interested in this area,’ President Hinckley told La Prensa Gráfica.

“‘We believe in revelation from God,’ said President Hinckley, explaining how Church beliefs differ from those of other denominations. President Hinckley, like other Church leaders, is a lay clergyman who dresses in a suit and tie. …

“‘We seek to live in the world, not of the world,’ said President Hinckley, referring to the Church’s strict health code and its prohibition of harmful substances. ‘We don’t need these things. We are better off without them.’

“President Hinckley said the Church, in confronting assaults on the family, promotes family solidarity and offers members hope for peace in their lives. ‘If you want to lift a nation,’ he said, ‘lift the family. Family is society’s basic unit’” (La Prensa Gráfica, El Salvador, 25 January 1997).

President Hinckley meets with a news reporter in El Salvador.