Fellow apostle reveals the leader’s fading eyesight.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Russell M. Nelson gathers in the Church Administration Building with wife Wendy and other family members on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, two days before his 101st birthday. Nelson has told his fellow apostles of his troubles seeing.
President Russell M. Nelson may be in remarkably good shape for a person who has lived more than a century, but he is not invincible.
Even as the oldest man ever to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to preside over the 17.5 million-member global faith, Nelson has been feeling the ravages of his age.
In May 2023, the prophet-president began using a walker or wheelchair, due to balance issues.
Four months later, Nelson injured his back in a fall, which took some months to heal and kept him from attending an approaching General Conference in person.
And now, the 101-year-old is losing his eyesight.
At a stake conference this month in northern Kentucky, apostle Quentin Cook reported to the congregation, according to a tape recording of his remarks, that Nelson had recently told the apostles that he “just can’t see anymore” and that it was “all right for you guys to tell the Saints I can’t see.”
Cook went on to say: “That’s the only thing he can’t do.”
The Salt Lake Tribune confirmed the recording’s authenticity.
Asked for comment, a church spokesperson pointed out that Nelson himself mentioned during the April General Conference that his eyes “continue to get older.”
It’s not known if Nelson will attend the Oct. 4-5 General Conference. In recent global gatherings, he has shown up at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City for a session or two and delivered his speeches in prerecorded videos.