Pope Leo XIV has quoted J.R.R. Tolkien in his first encyclical — making Magnifica Humanitas the first papal encyclical ever to cite the author of The Lord of the Rings.
The 40,000-word document, released on May 25, addresses the rise of artificial intelligence and calls for it to be “disarmed” in service of the common good. In paragraph 213, discussing resistance to what he calls AI-driven dehumanization, Pope Leo turns to Tolkien — whom he describes as a “twentieth-century Catholic author” — and quotes a passage from The Return of the King, attributing it to “the words of a protagonist in one of his novels”:
“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.”
Readers will recognize the words immediately: they belong to Gandalf, spoken to the captains of the West during the Last Debate in Book V, Chapter IX of The Return of the King. It is one of the most theologically resonant passages in all of Tolkien’s work — a call to humility, faithfulness, and ordinary courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
The Pope follows the quotation with a line of his own:
“The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization.”
It is no accident that a Catholic Pope chose this passage. Tolkien himself described The Lord of the Rings as “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work” (Letters, No. 142), and the humility at the heart of Gandalf’s counsel — that we are not called to win the whole war, only to tend the fields we know — aligns directly with Catholic social teaching on the dignity of faithful, ordinary action.
This is not the first time a pope has invoked Tolkien. Pope Francis referenced Tolkien in speeches and a pastoral letter during his pontificate. But an encyclical is a different matter entirely — it is the highest form of ordinary magisterial teaching the Church produces. For Tolkien’s words to appear in one is a landmark moment in the long relationship between his work and Catholic thought.
Magnifica Humanitas is a sweeping document, and the Tolkien quotation is one small part of its broader argument about technology, human dignity, and the common good. Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah was present at the Vatican for its release, underscoring the document’s engagement with the AI industry directly.
We have been covering Tolkien’s legacy for over 25 years, and moments like this remind us why his work endures — not just as literature, but as a moral and spiritual touchstone that speaks to every generation
