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A Frenchman has been named the top bishop in the Utah-based LDS Church.

Gérald Caussé replaces recently named Mormon apostle Gary E. Stevenson as presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to a news release that was distributed Friday.

The 52-year-old Caussé had been serving as Stevenson's first counselor in the faith's Presiding Bishopric.

Second counselor Dean M. Davies becomes the first counselor, and W. Christopher Waddell, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, takes over as second counselor.

The Presiding Bishopric tends to the LDS Church's vast real-estate and commercial holdings. Other duties include "receiving, distributing and accounting for member tithes, offerings and contributions," according to the "Encyclopedia of Mormonism." It handles "administration of programs to assist the poor and needy; design, construction and maintenance of places of worship; and auditing and transferring records of membership."

Caussé, who was born in Bordeaux, France, becomes Mormonism's third presiding bishop born outside the U.S., according to the release, and the first for whom English is a second language.

Earning a master's degree from France's ESSEC Business School, he worked as an executive with several supermarket chains and food-distribution companies.

The 64-year-old Davies, who was born in Salt Lake City, has been employed by the LDS Church for more than two decades. Fluent in Spanish, he recently headed the Special Projects Department, helping to shepherd the design and reconstruction of Mormon temples.

Davies, who previously worked for San Francisco-based Bechtel Investments, received a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and completed advanced executive programs at Stanford and Northwestern universities.

Waddell, 56, was born in Los Angeles and lives in Lima, Peru, where he serves as a counselor in the LDS Church's South America Northwest Area presidency.

He earned a bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and eventually rose to first vice president of investments at Merrill Lynch.

David Noyce