Bob Dylan visited Pope Leo at the Vatican on Wednesday, exchanging a rosary and an autobiography during a break in his Italian concert dates.
The Vatican said the encounter was brief.
Leo gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan presented the pope with a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
Leo drew on Dylan's 1963 protest song in a book he published in 2026, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.
It was hard not to feel the emotion of being part of an encounter that had a real sense of history about it, with the feeling that, at every step through the Apostolic Palace, absolutely anything could happen!
At Spadaro's account, Dylan requested a conversation with Leo and met privately with him for a few minutes. The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, who edits the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, joined them.
Born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, Leo heard Dylan's music growing up, Spadaro said. The pontiff, now 71, knows Dylan's repertoire and, like Dylan, comes from the U.S. Midwest.
Spadaro said Dylan knew the work of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose influence shaped Leo's spirituality and Augustinian religious order. Dylan wrote
Dylan's hood is pulled over his head in Vatican photos. He wore a black hoodie, a loose tie, a black coat and black gloves; the pope wore his white cassock. Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
Dylan's earlier papal appearance came in 1997, when he performed for Pope John Paul II and thousands of others at a concert that closed a religious congress in Bologna, Italy. During the church event, his set included
You asked me: how many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? I answer you: one! There is only one road of man and it is Christ, who said: 'I am the way'.
Dylan, born into a Jewish family in Minnesota, changed his name from Robert Zimmerman. In 1979, he became a born-again Christian, and songs such as
Spadaro accompanied Patti Smith to an audience with Pope Leo in July. The pope also met Bad Bunny and others in June while touring Spain.
If they are confronted with the question do they want to see Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope, I think many will see Bad Bunny
But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something.
This is a moment that shall forever produce a smile
Dylan composed the typewritten song in 1963 for Izzy Young, who ran the Greenwich Village Folklore Center; it was later hand-corrected. The song had not been released before. Christie's auctioned the lyrics in the summer of 2013. In the pope's book, he cited Dylan's
I asked everyone I knew to write a song about the nuclear bomb
Bob Dylan came in literally the next day and handed this to me.
The Vatican's newspaper confirmed the meeting, saying Leo had
What we know
- Bob Dylan visited Pope Leo at the Vatican on Wednesday.
- Dylan gave Leo his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, and received a rosary from him.
- Leo had quoted from Dylan's 1963 song "Go Away You Bomb" in his 2026 book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.
Still unclear
- What Leo and Dylan discussed during their meeting.
- 1997Concert for John Paul II
Dylan played for Pope John Paul II in Bologna, Italy, performing "Blowin' in the Wind" and other songs.
- 2026Song quoted in book
Leo quoted Dylan's 1963 anti-nuclear song "Go Away You Bomb" in his book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.
- WednesdayVatican meeting
Dylan visited Pope Leo at the Vatican during a break between concert dates in Italy.
Dylan vs Pope Leo
Bob Dylan
Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016
- Wore a black hoodie and a loose tie
- Vatican photos showed the hood over his head
- Also wore a black coat and black gloves
Pope Leo
71 years old, Chicago-born
- Wore his customary white cassock
- Known as a Dylan fan
- Grew up familiar with Dylan's music
Social media commenters weighed in on Dylan's hoodie, with one asking,
Last month, His Holiness voted by mail in Chicago ahead of the midterm elections, marking the first time a pope has cast a ballot in a U.S. general election.
Dylan visited during a break between concert dates in Italy.
