What's this?!

[Raynor]

Indeed, in letter #156, Tolkien talks about the priest kings of the numenor, referring most likely to the gondorians too; he also states that Aragorn reinstated this double status, with the reemergence of the king's line. In Numenor too, the king had the highest role in performing "religious" ceremonies. We could also add that the Gondorians were aware of their higher status, and probably have figured that maintaining and honoring old traditions would preserve or at least slow the diminishing of their lives, of which they were so concerned (the numenorean's lives shortened the quicker they disobeyed Eru and true traditions).