Is Peter Thiel the target of Pope Leo's Gandalf quote? An investigation.

Pope Leo’s new encyclical on AI and technology quotes Gandalf, drawing unusual attention to a Vatican message about the future of tech.

The article asks whether the Tolkien reference was a subtle warning aimed at Peter Thiel, whose companies and allies are deeply tied to Middle-earth imagery.

Thiel’s public rhetoric, investments, and circles, including Palantir, Anduril, and fellow conservatives, have long leaned on end-times and Tolkien themes.

That makes the encyclical’s language read by some as more than literary flourish: possibly a quiet rebuke of influential tech elites and their worldview.