Meet the New Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, Sister Franco
Contributed By Marianne Holman Prescott, Church News staff writer
Sister Cristina B. Franco, with her husband, President Rodolfo Franco. Sister Franco was called as the Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency in April 2017.
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Editor's Note: When Sister Jean B. Bingham was called as Relief Society General President in April 2017, she was released as First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, which left a vacancy in the Primary General Presidency. Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, formerly the Second Counselor, became First Counselor, and Sister Cristina B. Franco was called as the new Second Counselor. Sister Franco is currently serving with her husband, Rodolfo Franco, as he presides over the Argentina Resistencia Mission. She will assume her new duties when their mission concludes in July.
At a young age, Sister Cristina Franco learned that if she had a question, she could turn to Heavenly Father in prayer for an answer.
“I remember going to my mom when I was 11 or so and asking her a doctrinal question,” she said. “She answered my question but told me, ‘You don’t have to take my word for it.’ So I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father if it was true.”
Her prayer was answered, and from then on she knew she had a Heavenly Father who loved her and would answer her prayers.
Sister Cristina B. Franco, Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency
Sustained on April 1, 2017, to the Primary General Presidency, Cristina Beatriz Fraga was born in 1958 to Hugo R. and Maria A. Godoy Fraga in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When she was three years old, missionaries knocked on her parents’ door. After studying and attending church for about eight months, the couple joined the Church and began raising their family in the gospel. In Primary she met Rodolfo C. Franco, a child who later became her best friend.
When she was 18, Sister Franco’s family moved to Utah. At that time, she and Rodolfo knew they wanted to marry, but Rodolfo was required to serve in the Argentine military for a time. The two wrote letters, and when he completed his military service, they married on December 15, 1978, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of three sons.
Following in the footsteps of Sister Franco’s father, a watchmaker, the couple worked at a watch and clock shop in Salt Lake City for nearly three decades.
Sister Franco has served in many capacities in the Church. She served on the Primary general board from 2005 to 2010, and at the time of her call to the Primary General Presidency, she was serving with her husband as he presides over the Argentina Resistencia Mission.
