Pope Leo XIV quoting Tolkien in an encyclical was not on my 2026 bingo card.

But I’m genuinely grateful for it.

In Magnifica Humanitas, reflecting on technology, power, and human responsibility, he quotes Gandalf from The Return of the King:

“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.”

This is Tolkien/Gandalf wisdom at its best.

We are not called to control history.

We are called to be faithful in the years given to us.

To resist the evil nearest to us.

To guard what is good.

To leave cleaner ground for those who come after us.

I appreciate the Pope’s pastoral wisdom here and think it’s a very helpful approach that doesn’t demonize or glorify tech. Instead it calls humanity to moral intentionality and accountability.

Also, I think this totally strengthens Kaleb Hammond case for canonizing Tolkien.