Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican, Swapping Memoir
Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican, Swapping Memoir for Rosary Months

VATICAN CITY — Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican this week, a brief audience that brought together the Nobel-winning songwriter and the first American pope, who has quoted Dylan's work in his writing on peace.

Dylan, who is touring Italy with a stop in Rome, was received Wednesday afternoon at the Apostolic Palace.

A brief, friendly meeting

According to Vatican News, the meeting was "brief, consisting of greetings and a few lighthearted exchanges."

The two men exchanged gifts. Leo gave Dylan a rosary, and the 84-year-old singer-songwriter gave the pope a copy of his autobiography, "Chronicles: Volume One."

Dylan wore a black hooded sweatshirt for the occasion. The pair were photographed shaking hands and seated at a table for a short conversation.

Dylan was accompanied by the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. "Today I accompanied Bob Dylan to see Pope Leo," Spadaro wrote.

Spadaro said Dylan had wanted to speak with Leo, and the two met privately for a few minutes. He also noted that Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, grew up in Chicago familiar with Dylan's music.

The pope quoted Dylan

The meeting had a backstory. In July, Leo quoted Dylan while criticizing the arms race, which he described as something that "frightens and terrifies us today."

The pope cited Dylan's unpublished 1963 protest song "Go Away You Bomb" in his book "Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift." Dylan wrote the song at the height of the Cold War, but it was never recorded. The lyric the pope cited addresses the atomic bomb directly, condemning it as a human creation.

Not his first pope

Dylan has performed for a pontiff before. In 1997, he was invited to perform at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, before Pope John Paul II and a crowd of about 300,000 young people.

John Paul II drew on Dylan's music in his sermon, referring to "Blowin' in the Wind."

A pope who welcomes musicians

Leo has met several revered musicians over the past year, including Patti Smith and Bad Bunny.