[Greg F]

Gandalf was raised from the dead or the depths of hell though and can act directly with immense power against the evil supernatural forces which is more Godlike or Angelic. Could be Pope but then where are the bishops, priests and the structure of the church? I think Tolkien may have intentionally left the church as an overt entity out of his world in order to keep the book open to all rather than purely sectarian.

[Petrosius]

Since Tolkien was not writing an analogy with perfect one-to-one correspondence to reality, his characters and events can have more than one meaning. It is similar to the multiple fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies. It is more a matter of his world view permeating the stories rather than a strict symbolism that you would find in other authors. This is what makes Tolkien so rich; the more you look, the more you find.