I think Gandalf is obviously the Pope. Think about it. The White Wizard? At first I thought he might be St. Dominic, but then I thought he must be the Pope because I realized where the Pope stays during the summer! Or I suppose he could be both St. Dominic and the Pope. He is sort of a multi purpose character in the imagination of Tolkien’s Catholic mind.
Castel Gondolfo!
The other wizards are clearly named after different kinds of saints and bishops as well.
I just thought that was pretty cool. More later in a Tolkien Minute series.
annunciationblog.com 
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What?! Here you’ve given me yet another thing to research further — only a little more pop culture than usual. I love LOTR, and now you may have added a new layer of fascination for me…