Bob Dylan Visits Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican Between Concerts
The Nobel laureate presented his autobiography to the pontiff, who gifted him a rosary during a brief private meeting in Rome.
By Tomas Gonzalez ·
Bob Dylan stopped by the Vatican on Wednesday to meet with Pope Leo XIV while on tour in Italy. The American singer-songwriter visited the pontiff during a break in his concert schedule, marking a personal connection between the two men that stretches back decades.
The two have shared a literary link before this face-to-face meeting. In his 2026 book, “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift,” Leo quoted a lyric from Dylan’s unpublished 1963 protest song, “Go Away You Bomb.” The pope used the line “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled” to warn against the global race to rearm and the reliance on nuclear weapons.
According to Vatican officials, the encounter was short. Leo gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan gave the pope a copy of his autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One.” Two Vatican staff members accompanied the musician. They were the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
Spadaro noted that the former Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago in 1955, grew up listening to Dylan. He also pointed out that Dylan is well acquainted with St. Augustine of Hippo, the figure who inspires Leo’s spirituality and his Augustinian religious order. Dylan wrote the 1967 song “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” for the album John Wesley Harding.
Dylan arrived for the meeting wearing a black hoodie with the hood up and a loose tie. This was not his first interaction with a pope. In 1997, he performed for Pope John Paul II and thousands of attendees in Bologna, Italy, during a concert that capped a religious congress.
Dylan, who was born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota, converted to Christianity in 1979. He has been more reserved about his faith in recent years. In a 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal, he described himself as a religious person who reads scriptures, meditates, and prays.
The visit occurred between two dates on his Italian tour. Dylan performed in Milan on Monday and is scheduled to play in Rome on Thursday. Before his meeting with the pope, he sang his 1997 track “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” which includes the lyrics about trying to reach heaven before the door closes.
