Mormon Church admits founder had up to 40 wives

The Mormon church has, at long last, admitted that its founder, Joseph Smith practiced polygamy, taking as many as 40 wives in his lifetime – including one who was 14 years old.

In an attempt to open up after it had been accused of being secretive and lacking transparency, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a series of essays said that Mr Smith “married many additional wives and authorized other Latter-day Saints to practice plural marriage. Careful estimates put the number between 30 and 40”.

Elder Steven E. Snow, the church’s historian and a member of its senior leadership, said in an interview: “There is so much out there on the Internet that we felt we owed our members a safe place where they could go to get reliable, faith-promoting information that was true about some of these more difficult aspects of our history. We need to be truthful, and we need to understand our history”.