I think of the church as a huge worldwide corporation, which makes this move make a lot more sense.
I work for the multinational research arm of a multinational corporation based in the US. Including contractors, the company's employee count is about triple the population of the town I live in. It's very easy for our building of 100 or so in the UK to feel left out or lacking direction, even as the company leans on its research arm to prepare it to thrive in the tech market of 5-15 years from now.
When the CEO and board of directors show up, it's a huge deal. Even if they do nothing else, it shows us that they're paying attention and appreciate our work.
That's the context in which I read this and the rest of the article:
For the first time, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has placed one of its most sacred buildings in a land of the Bible, and to dedicate it this weekend, the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are assembling outside the United States for what is believed to be the first time in the faith’s 188-year history.
The church in Europe is dwindling. The area goal of doubling sacrament meeting attendance by 2020 has turned out to be... optimistic, to say the least. Members are checking out both mentally and physically. Local leaders are overworked and stressed. The church here needs shoring up and to feel appreciated and special, and the men who would do it believe that their presence - augmented of course by God magic - will help.
Apart from any God magic, they're probably right.
In both my company and the church, when the CEO and the board of directors visit, you bet it's expensive. Apart from meeting with the troops, or at least the troops' commanding officers, they need to maintain connections to other corporations' VIPs and government officials. All of that costs money. Something that's often overlooked in conversations about VIP visits is the scales they deal with. VIPs have so much influence that spending what normal people would think of as lavish amounts can be very worthwhile. While I would love to see more funds diverted to the needy living from the safely dead, the only reason I would personally feel like insisting the funds should be taken from the Q15's Rome trip budget would be wanting their trip to fail.
If I were advising any VIPs on trip expenses, here's what I would say. Spend what you need to meet your objectives, and to be personally comfortable during your crazy 24/7 job. Don't do anything that could be construed as bribing a government official. Don't spend in a way that makes you look entitled. While recognizing that those 30 French cuffs imply a certain disconnect from even the average member, I think the Q15 largely do what I would advise.
Learn to doubt the stories you tell about yourselves and your adversaries.
