Interview: ABC4 sits down with Mitt Romney regarding LDS President Russell M. Nelson’s death, Michigan shooting

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — ABC4’s Sarah Murphy sat down with former U.S. Senator Mitt Romney regarding the death of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Russell M. Nelson, who passed away at his home in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 27, as well as the deadly

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shooting at an LDS chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

Romney first noted a particular warmth and kindness he believed Nelson exuded.

He began, “There was an occasion where Ann and I got a chance to sit down and talk with him. And we came away with just a feeling that, yes, he’s a prophet, but he’s a person of extraordinary warmth and caring modesty and kindness.”

An active member of the LDS Church, Romney attended church today, Sept. 28, and heard a story that only further affirmed his feelings about Nelson’s outstanding character.

“Actually, at church today, a young man said that his grandmother needed a heart operation some years ago,” he said. “They were a poor family at the time, couldn’t afford it. They approached then Dr. Nelson and asked if he would do the surgery at no charge, and he readily agreed. So I think his life is pretty much an example of a person of extraordinary kindness and generosity.”

Romney said that Nelson’s legacy reached far beyond his personal character.

“Well, I think the fact that he reached out throughout the world and really opened up Africa in many respects. It had been technically opened in the past, but the growth of the church in Africa has just exploded,” Romney added. “And then he took temples. He built almost 200 new temples that he’s announced in places where typically there have not been temples in the past. And so he’s taken the church on a worldwide basis.”

He said Nelson was peacemaker, emphasizing that Americans, and people across the world, must find ways to bridge the differences between us. Romney added that the only time there was any ever question that came to him of a political nature from the church was with regard to defense of marriage and defense of religion.

“It’s the only time in six years in the Senate that I ever had any requests from the church,” Romney said.

Romney added that Nelson’s words really had an impact on him.

“Some of his remarks like, ‘Think celestial,'” Romney said. “That had an impact on me. And be a peacemaker. … He had such an enormous impact on my life that even though he was prophet for only, what, six or seven years, those years are years that have been shaped in large measure by virtue of his character and his prophetic guidance.”

Romney on Michigan shooting

While remembering the life of President Nelson, the nation has been forced to also deal with a deadly shooting carried at an LDS chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The shooting has left two dead and eight others injured — one of whom is in critical condition. Authorities said Sunday afternoon that they believed more victims could be within the chapel, who became trapped by the blaze.

“Apparently, this individual set fire to the building as well and perhaps tried to keep people from escaping from the fire,” Romney said. “We don’t know how many victims there will be, but the initial count is frightening. Any death and any injury is too many.”

Romney continued, “It’s an extraordinary tragedy. People who are worshiping God, whether that’s across the world or here of any faith, they have to recognize that that is something to be protected. It is, if you will, divine.”

Romney said that attacking people in a house of worship is akin to attacking children in schools.

“These things are simply inexplicable,” he told ABC4. “There is simply no justification whatsoever.”

Romney added that people like himself — those in public life — have an obligation to be more careful in the selection of words that they use, and not to demonize or suggest hate-like attitudes towards people they disagree with, or are on the other side of the aisle, or who are of different faiths, ethnicities, or sexual orientation.

“We simply have to recognize we’re all children of the same God,” Romney told ABC4. “Any blow against any one of the children of God is a blow against all of us.”

He said that while it is sad to lose a prophet, the news of a shooting like this is a different kind of heartbreak.

“The news from Grand Blanc, Michigan, where a church was attacked and people were injured, or in one case at least one individual killed, that just tears our heart,” Romney said. “And we fall to our knees and pray for them, but pray also for people who are so misguided that they would suggest that violence is ever an answer in facing people who are different than ourselves.”