Pope Leo XIV dropped a 40,000-word encyclical on artificial intelligence last week, and for anyone paying attention to the intersection of Technology and theology, there’s one detail that stands out like a white lighthouse in a storm.
In a document that covers the entirety of humanity’s relationship with machines, there’s exactly one literary quotation from a fictional character. It comes from Gandalf, the wizard from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. And the reason that matters is because Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech investor and notorious Antichrist alarmist, has built what can only be described as a Tolkien-themed empire.
Let’s unpack this, because it’s genuinely delightful.
The Quote Heard Round the Tech World
Here’s what Leo chose to include, from that scene in Return of the King where Gandalf is talking to Pippin about the nature of duty:
“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”
The Pope connects this to his call for a “civilization of love” and stresses what Tolkien also valorized: small acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization. On its surface, it’s a perfectly reasonable invocation of fantasy literature to make a point about humility and incremental good.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
Peter Thiel’s Tolkien Problem
Thiel is perhaps the most prominent tech billionaire who has literally named his companies after Middle-earth locations. Palantir, the data mining Technology giant that works with the defense industry, takes its name from the seeing-stones in Tolkien’s work. Mithril Capital Management references the fictional metal. Valar Ventures uses the name of the divine beings in Tolkien’s legendarium. Then there’s Rivendell One, Lembas LLC, and perhaps mostfamously, the Erebor digital bank project backed by Thiel and launched by Palmer Luckey of Anduril defense fame.
This isn’t a minor quirk. Thiel has explicitly cited Tolkien as a major influence on his worldview. J.D. Vance, his protégé and current US Vice President, has called Tolkien his favorite author and founded a venture capital firm called Narya, after one of the Three Rings of power given to the Elves.
But Thiel’s interests extend well beyond fantasy branding. He’s been touring the world giving private lectures about the imminent arrival of the Antichrist, drawing on the Book of Revelation to argue that global governance, which he conflates with “one-world government,” represents a demonic unification. According to reporting by The Guardian and the Associated Press, Thiel believes that regulatory bodies like the FDA effectively serve as instruments of this antichristian consolidation.
And here’s the kicker: in his view, anyone who opposes unchecked AI development, including the Pope’s recent calls to “disarm” artificial intelligence, is aligned with these forces of stagnation that will enable the Antichrist’s takeover.
Reading the Signals
Is it possible that Leo, the first American Pope, born in Chicago and shaped by decades in Peru, knows exactly who he’s talking to?
The speculation isn’t baseless. Catholic publication The Herald directly asked whether the encyclical was “aimed at Peter Thiel’s techno-political empire.” Tech blogger Simon Willison wondered if the Gandalf quote was “the Pope throwing a little shade at Peter Thiel.”
But here’s what I find more interesting than whether this was intentional shade: the deeper theological divide it reveals.
Thiel sees Technology as humanity’s salvation from stagnation. He has said repeatedly that AI could break the cultural and economic malaise he believes has gripped the West, and that those who want guardrails are effectively serving the Antichrist by impeding progress. In his worldview, the FDA and nuclear regulators are part of a globalist apparatus that needs to be overcome.
Leo, by contrast, is sketching something almost opposite: a vision where technology sheds its messianic pretensions and instead serves humble, local, communal goods. The Gandalf quote isn’t about conquering the darkness with ultimate weapons or world-ruling power. It’s about tending your own field. It’s about the small and steadfast.
It’s worth noting, as the article does, that in Tolkien’s actual story, it’s the “wretched outcast” Gollum who accidentally saves Middle-earth, not the great warriors or the powerful wizards. The hobbits, those small and unassuming folk, are the ones who carry thering to its destruction. The powerful fail. The humble succeed.
If Leo was sending a message to the tech oligarchs who see themselves as saving the world through grand technological interventions, it’s a pretty elegant one: you’re reading the wrong Tolkien.
The Real Stakes
Look, I’m not one to claim that Popes spend their time crafting encyclicals as passive-aggressive missives to tech billionaires. That’s not how this works. Leo has been clear that his mission is proclamation, not confrontation. When he tangles with political figures, it’s because he believes the Gospel demands it.
But the fact that this particular quote landed where it did, in this particular moment, tells us something about how the Catholic Church is positioning itself in the age of AI. Leo isn’t anti-technology. But he is deeply skeptical of the techno-optimism that treats artificial intelligence as humanity’s final salvation, and he is explicitly calling for a different way of building.
The real question isn’t whether Thiel will notice the Gandalf quote. It’s whether the broader tech Business world will hear the invitation underneath it or simply double down on their own messianic narratives.
The wizard gave his speech. The Pope quoted it. Whether anyone in Silicon Valley is listening is another story entirely.
