I doubt it, there is a much simpler explanation: virtually all English-speaking Catholics dig Tolkien.
replyLewis and Tolkien hanging out at pubs in Oxford remains the apex of nerdy Christian geekery.
replyI had a look and yeah, Popes quoting Tolkien does seem to be a thing, at least in the last couple of decades.
replyIt’s a whole thing. The priest at my high school was way into Tolkien and, more interestingly to me as a teenager: the Wolfenstein series of games!
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