Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican

On November 4, 2026, Bob Dylan, the renowned singer-songwriter and Nobel laureate, visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. This encounter occurred during a brief break while Dylan toured Italy with his concerts.

The Vatican reported that the meeting was concise. Pope Leo XIV presented Dylan with a rosary, while Dylan gifted the pope a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One. Leo has previously referenced an unpublished protest song by Dylan titled “Go Away You Bomb” in his book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, criticizing nuclear armament. In the song, Dylan expressed disdain for an atomic bomb, encapsulating the sentiment with the words, “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.”

“I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.” – Bob Dylan

Dylan was escorted by two Vatican officials: Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a culture ministry official, who had also been with Patti Smith during her meeting with Leo in July, and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

Spadaro mentioned that Dylan had expressed the desire to converse with Leo, and they met privately for a brief period. In an essay for L’Osservatore Romano, he noted that the former Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was acquainted with Dylan’s music from a young age, having grown up in Chicago. Furthermore, Dylan’s familiarity with St. Augustine of Hippo was highlighted, underscoring his song “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” from the 1967 album John Wesley Harding.

Dylan donned a black hoodie and a loose tie during the visit, as shown in Vatican photographs. This was not his first papal interaction, as he performed for Pope John Paul II in 1997 during a religious congress in Bologna, Italy.

Originally born Robert Zimmerman to a Jewish family in Minnesota, Dylan adopted Christianity in 1979, which led to mixed reactions from his followers due to songs like “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “Saved.” Recently, in a 2022 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dylan described himself as a “religious person” who engages in scripture reading, meditation, and prayer.

Dylan’s meeting with Pope Leo XIV happened between his concerts in Italy, having performed in Milan on Monday and scheduled to perform in Rome on Thursday. During his last concert before meeting the pope, he sang “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” a song from 1997 that includes the lyrics, “I’ve been all around the world, boys/Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door.”