Mormon Church Admits its Founder Had 40 Wives!

The founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith, had as many as 40 wives, including one who was 14 years old, church leaders have said for the first time.

Mr Smith has often been portrayed as a loyal husband to wife Emma.

But in new documents exploring the issue of polygamy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 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," it said in a footnote, referring to his spouses.

Most of them were aged between 20 and 40 - but one, Helen Mar Kimball, was "sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday", said the documents, which were posted online.

Some of the women he wed were already married. In some cases, the marriages were meant "for the next life alone".

However, the documents say that for Emma "it was an excruciating ordeal".

The new documents were seen as an attempt to open up by a church often criticised as secretive and lacking transparency.

Mr Smith, who was born in 1805, published the Book of Mormon and founded the church in 1830.

The Mormon church has since renounced polygamy.



Credit: Sky News