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Hello World of Faith readers,  

This week, the pope is in Spain, discussion of aliens is raising big religion questions, and a U.S. Defense Department change sparks debate over the Christian identity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Pope Leo XIV meets a migrant at the 'Las Raices' center, in San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

LEO IN SPAIN

Pope tells traffickers of migrants in the Canary Islands: Stop, repent or face God's wrath

Pope Leo XIV warned human traffickers that they will face God's wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants, demanding they stop and repent during his final day in the epicenter of the African migration route to Europe. The American pope insisted on the inherent dignity and rights of migrants and demanded they be welcomed and integrated into society, in some of his strongest comments on the divisive issue. Read more. 

Why this matters:

• Leo wrapped up his weeklong trip to Spain in the Canary Islands, an archipelago which is closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula. It is a key point of entry for migrants who make the perilous Atlantic crossing from West Africa.

  
  
• He was fulfilling Pope Francis' wish to visit the islands to commemorate the thousands of lives lost at sea.
  
  
• He was also drawing attention to the Catholic Church’s biblically-mandated mantra to “welcome the stranger,” amid anti-migrant sentiment in Europe and the Trump administration's mass deportation program in his native United States.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Pope honors Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia as masterpiece of stone, color and light on Gaudí centenary
• Catalonia’s famed human tower climbers greet Pope Leo in Barcelona
• Pope’s youth rally in Spain gets raw, with frank discussion of depression and domestic violence 
• Pope gets caught up in Spain’s great debates over soccer and language

ALIENS AND RELIGION 

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

In his new film “Disclosure Day,” Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg isn't the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What was once considered fringe or conspiratorial has in recent months popped up everywhere from the White House to the Catholic Church, as public fascination with unidentified anomalous phenomena — or UAPs, as the government calls them — becomes more mainstream. Read more. 

Why this matters:

• The Pentagon in May made public large swaths of UFO files with very

  little context, leaving curious sleuths to piece together their own interpretations. The dump came just weeks after former President Barack Obama set off a media frenzy for stating that aliens are real.

  
  
• Some religious adherents, as well as some nonbelievers, maintain that the existence of life on other planets might undermine many faiths because it would complicate assertions that humans are unique. But others argue the opposite.
  
  
• UFOs are often thought of as hostile. But some religions see them as good or even part of a divine plan. Some adherents to the Nation of Islam, for example, believe that its founder will inaugurate an apocalyptic return to Earth on a spaceship.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Bright lights and hot orbs: UFO files shed light on sightings but leave interpretation to the public 
• Washington archbishop removes priest as exorcist after comments on UFOs and demons 
• Movie Review: ‘Disclosure Day’ is classic Spielberg 

WHO'S CHRISTIAN 

A Pentagon list overhaul puts Mormon church’s Christian identity back in the spotlight 

The Pentagon’s revision to its list of Christian religions this week has reignited a nearly 200-year-old debate: Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a Christian denomination? Most Latter-day Saints do see themselves as Christians. But there are many prominent Christian clergy and scholars who disagree, citing core differences in how they view God and the Trinity and revere a scripture that is not part of the two-testament Christian Bible. Read more. 

Why this matters:

• Utah U.S. Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, both Republicans and Latter-day Saints, challenged the Pentagon’s exclusion of their faith from its list of Christian religions.
  
  
• It was part of the Department of Defense’s recent effort to significantly pare down a list of more than 200 religious affiliations that troops could choose from, deleting categories such as Unitarian Universalists, pagans, atheists and Wiccans.
  
  
• The Pentagon responded by removing the Christian label from 20 other traditions, including Catholic, Lutheran and Pentecostal, and stayed away from labeling Latter-day Saints as Christian.