File this under pop culture crossovers I did not have on my bingo card: the pope just quoted Gandalf to talk about AI and war. And yes, it actually makes sense.
Popes and pop culture is not a new thing
The Vatican has played in the mass-media sandbox for decades, using the tools of the moment to talk about ethics, justice, and the human condition. Quick hits:
- Pope John Paul II built a massive global image through constant travel and a savvy relationship with TV and print.
- Pope Francis has met with comedians and Hollywood folks, and even popped up in documentaries shot inside the Sistine Chapel.
Music, film, social platforms — it is all fair game if it helps the Church reach people where they actually are.
Now we have Gandalf weighing in on AI
Enter Pope Leo XIV and his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas — think: the pope’s big formal letter setting priorities. In it, he reaches outside the usual theological bookshelf and grabs a line from The Lord of the Rings to set the tone for how the Church wants the world to think about artificial intelligence, especially when it is pointed at battlefields.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"
He uses that line to frame a clear warning: AI may be thrilling tech, but when it is built into modern warfare, the moral stakes go way up. The Gandalf pull is not cute window dressing — it is a way to connect an old, universal dilemma (how we choose to act when the tools are powerful and the clock is ticking) to a very current problem.
Why it lands
Quoting a fantasy icon in an encyclical sounds wild, but it tracks with how the papacy has worked the culture for years: meet people in the stories they know, then push the conversation toward responsibility. Here, that means spotlighting the human choices behind AI systems — who builds them, who deploys them, and who is accountable when things go sideways in a war zone.
Bottom line: the Church is making its AI case in plain language, with a pop culture touchstone as a compass. It is a surprisingly clean way to remind everyone that technology does not get to dodge ethics just because it is new.