Mormon Church names its first Latin-American and Asian-American apostles

The Mormon Church named its first Latin-American and Asian-American apostles on Saturday, NPR reported.

The two men, Ulisses Soares and Gerrit W. Gong, hail from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and California, respectively, according to the news outlet. They will join the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which until now was made up entirely of white men.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles acts as the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ policy-making body and ranks below the president of the church and his two counselors.

The announcement was made during the beginning of the semi-annual conference of the Mormon church, NPR reported.

The church also updated its sexual abuse reporting guidelines on Monday.

It also follows reports of domestic abuse allegations by both ex-wives of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter. The ex-wives both said that Mormon bishops encouraged them to stay married to Porter despite his alleged abuse.

The new guidelines add two key lines that indicate how church leaders should respond to abuse.