Pope Leo welcomes Bob Dylan to Vatican during Italian tour

Pope Leo XIV met Bob Dylan at the Vatican on Wednesday, exchanging gifts with the singer-songwriter during a break in his Italian concert tour. The brief encounter brought together two Americans with a connection that predates their meeting: Leo has quoted a Dylan protest song in a warning against nuclear weapons.

The meeting took place at the Apostolic Palace, the pope’s official residence, ahead of Dylan’s scheduled Thursday performance at Rome’s Palazzo dello Sport. Leo gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan presented the pope with a copy of his autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One,” according to the Vatican.

Dylan, 85, wore a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, a contrast with Leo’s white vestments. The BBC reported that the singer also wore gloves and carried an umbrella. Dylan, a Minnesota native, and Leo, who was born in Chicago, both come from the U.S. Midwest.

NPR reported that two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan: the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, an official with the Vatican’s culture ministry, and Andrea Monda, editor of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Spadaro said Dylan had wanted to speak with Leo and that they met privately for a few minutes.

Leo quoted Dylan’s “Go Away You Bomb,” an unpublished song written in 1963, in his 2026 book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.” In a passage warning against rearmament and nuclear weapons, he cited a line addressed to a hypothetical bomb: “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.” The song was never recorded, and its typewritten lyrics remained unpublished until they were discovered and offered at auction in 2013, the BBC reported, citing The New York Times.

Spadaro wrote in L’Osservatore Romano that Leo, born Robert Prevost in 1955, grew up familiar with Dylan’s music. He also pointed to Dylan’s familiarity with St. Augustine of Hippo, an inspiration for Leo’s spirituality and Augustinian religious order. Dylan included “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” on his 1967 album “John Wesley Harding,” NPR reported.

Dylan, who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, has met a pope before. In 1997, he performed at a religious congress in Bologna, Italy, for Pope John Paul II and a crowd the BBC put at about 300,000. The BBC reported that Dylan played four songs, including “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and greeted John Paul with a handshake during his set. John Paul quoted “Blowin’ in the Wind” in his sermon.

Dylan played in Milan on Monday before the Vatican visit. NPR reported that his set included “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” with the lyric: “I’ve been all around the world, boys/Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door.”