American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan paid a visit to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday, meeting with the pope in private for a brief encounter. The meeting took place during a break in Dylan's concert tour in Italy, with the musician set to perform in Rome on Thursday. According to the Vatican, the encounter was a private one, with only a few officials present.
During the meeting, Pope Leo XIV gifted Dylan a rosary, while Dylan presented the pope with a copy of his autobiography, "Chronicles: Volume One". The pope has previously quoted from an unpublished protest song by Dylan, "Go Away You Bomb", in his 2026 book "Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift". The song, penned in 1963, was addressed to a hypothetical atomic bomb and expressed opposition to nuclear weapons.
Two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan on his visit: the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Spadaro noted that Dylan had expressed a desire to meet with the pope, and that the two had discussed their shared interests in faith and spirituality. Spadaro also wrote an essay in L'Osservatore Romano, recalling Dylan's musical influence and his familiarity with St. Augustine of Hippo.
Dylan, who was born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941, has a long history of engagement with Christianity. He became a born-again Christian in 1979, and wrote several songs on the theme, including "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "Saved". More recently, Dylan has spoken about his faith in more general terms, telling the Wall Street Journal in 2022 that he was a "religious person" who read scripture, meditated, and prayed.
The meeting between Dylan and Pope Leo XIV was not the first time the musician had encountered a pope. In 1997, Dylan performed at a concert in Bologna, Italy, playing for Pope John Paul II and thousands of other people. On the evening before his meeting with the pope, Dylan performed in Milan, singing songs including "Tryin' to Get to Heaven", which contains the lyric "I've been all around the world, boys / Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door".
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, wore a black hoodie and loose tie during his meeting with the pope. Vatican photographs showed him with the hood over his head, a departure from his usual stage attire. The musician's visit to the Vatican was a private one, with only a few officials present to witness the encounter.
The meeting between Bob Dylan and Pope Leo XIV highlighted the ongoing dialogue between faith and art. As a musician and poet, Dylan has explored themes of spirituality and morality throughout his work, and his meeting with the pope was an opportunity for the two to discuss their shared interests in these areas. Key points from the meeting include:
Key points
- The exchange of gifts between Dylan and Pope Leo XIV, including a rosary and a copy of Dylan's autobiography.
- The pope's previous quotation of an unpublished Dylan song, "Go Away You Bomb", in his 2026 book.
- Dylan's long history of engagement with Christianity, including his born-again conversion in 1979 and his more recent statements about his faith.
