AP Photo

For Italian Latter-day Saints, Saturday was about weaving this city's rich spiritual past with a future replete with promise and, they add, eternal opportunities.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the future Rome Italy Temple now being built on a pastoral site in the northeast corner of the city. On Saturday, he shared remarks and counsel before offering a prayer of thanksgiving and dedication on the temple site and construction project.