Dylan visits Leo at Vatican

Bob Dylan visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in Rome on Wednesday. The meeting took place while the singer-songwriter was in Italy for a concert tour. Leo welcomed the American artist to his office during a break in Dylan's travel schedule.

The Vatican described the encounter as brief. Leo presented Dylan with a rosary. Dylan gave the pope a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One. Two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan into the room. They were Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, editor of L'Osservatore Romano.

Spadaro said Dylan had requested the private audience. The two men spoke for a few minutes alone. Spadaro noted that Leo, who was born in Chicago in 1955, grew up listening to Dylan. The pope also quoted a 1963 Dylan song in his 2026 book, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift. The lyric, from the unpublished track Go Away You Bomb, described the weapon as man-made and man-owned.

Spadaro wrote an essay in L'Osservatore Romano about the visit. He highlighted Dylan's connection to St. Augustine of Hippo. The saint is central to Leo's spirituality. Dylan wrote the song I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine for his 1967 album John Wesley Harding.

Dylan wore a black hoodie and a loose tie during the visit. Vatican photos showed him with the hood pulled over his head. The 2016 Nobel Prize winner has a history with the papacy. He performed for Pope John Paul II in 1997 at a concert in Bologna, Italy.

Born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota to a Jewish family, Dylan converted to Christianity in 1979. He has discussed his faith in recent years. In a 2022 Wall Street Journal interview, he described himself as a religious person who reads scriptures and prays.

Dylan performed in Milan on Monday. He is scheduled to play in Rome on Thursday. In a recent concert before meeting the pope, he sang his 1997 song Tryin' to Get to Heaven.