Papal AI Encyclical Sparks Speculation Over Hidden Dig at Peter Thiel
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A Literary Anomaly in Vatican Doctrine
In a 40,000-word encyclical addressing the moral and existential implications of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo has included only one literary reference. He does not cite a philosopher, a scientist, or a theologian for this specific point; instead, he quotes Gandalf, the wizard from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The passage, drawn from The Return of the King, urges a focus on the immediate and the humble: “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.”
On the surface, the quote serves as a call for the “civilization of love,” emphasizing small, steadfast acts of fidelity as a defense against the dehumanizing effects of rapid technological acceleration. However, within the specific context of the current clash between the Vatican and Silicon Valley’s venture capital elite, the choice of Tolkien feels less like a random literary preference and more like a calculated signal.
The Tolkien Obsession of the ‘PayPal Mafia’
To understand why a wizard’s wisdom in a papal document might be a targeted strike, one must look at the specific brand of Tolkien worship prevalent among Peter Thiel and his orbit. Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and a dominant force in venture capital, hasn’t just read Tolkien; he has built a corporate empire upon his nomenclature.
Thiel’s investment footprint is a map of Middle-earth. He co-founded Palantir, named after the all-seeing stones of Tolkien’s lore. He launched Mithril Capital Management, named for the indestructible silver-steel of the elves, and Valar Ventures, referencing the angelic powers of the Tolkien universe. This pattern extends to his protégés: J.D. Vance previously founded Narya—named after one of the three Rings of Power—and Palmer Luckey’s defense startup, Anduril, takes its name from the Flame of the West.
For Thiel and his circle, Tolkien provides more than just a naming convention; it offers a narrative framework for a world they view as stagnating, where a small group of enlightened actors must wield powerful tools to reshape the destiny of civilization.
The Antichrist and the Algorithm
The tension between the Pope and Thiel is not merely academic. Thiel has spent recent years promoting an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity, culminating in a series of lectures regarding the “Antichrist.” According to leaked recordings and reports from The Guardian, Thiel posits that a globalist, unified state—potentially led by a “woke American pope” aligned with a “woke American president”—would be the herald of this biblical apocalypse.
This worldview positions regulatory “safetyism” as a tool of the Antichrist. In a 2025 interview with The New York Times, Thiel argued that AI is the primary vehicle to break cultural and economic stagnation, suggesting that the risks of removing guardrails are preferable to the “nothingness” of a regulated world.
By quoting Gandalf’s warning against trying to “master all the tides of the world,” Pope Leo appears to be directly countering Thiel’s tech-messianism. Where Thiel sees a necessity to seize the reigns of AI to prevent collapse, the Vatican suggests that true moral progress comes from the humility of local, human-centric stewardship.
The Theology of Restraint
The encyclical arrives at a moment when the Catholic Church is attempting to carve out a middle path between Luddism and blind accelerationism. By framing AI through the lens of Tolkien—a writer who cautioned against the corrupting influence of power (embodied by the One Ring)—Leo is using Thiel’s own cultural language to argue against his philosophy.
The subtext is clear: the pursuit of total mastery over the world’s systems is not a divine mission, but a hubristic error. In the battle for the soul of the digital age, the Pope has decided that the best way to reach the venture capitalists of Silicon Valley is to speak to them in the language of the legends they admire, while reminding them that even the wisest wizards know when to step back.
