Pope Leo XIV met with American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at the Apostolic Palace in Rome on Wednesday, during a break in Dylan’s Italian tour. The Vatican confirmed the encounter was brief, with the 85-year-old Dylan presenting Pope Leo with a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, and receiving a rosary in return.
The meeting occurred the day before Dylan’s scheduled performance at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome, one of several stops on his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. Vatican officials Rev. Antonio Spadaro and Andrea Monda accompanied Dylan during the visit.
Pope Leo, who shares Dylan’s Midwestern U.S. roots, has previously referenced Dylan’s work. In his 2026 book, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, the Pope quoted an unreleased 1963 protest song by Dylan, Go Away You Bomb, in a passage warning against nuclear rearmament. The lyrics, addressed to a hypothetical atomic bomb, read: “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.”
This was Dylan’s second papal meeting. In 1997, he performed for Pope John Paul II and approximately 300,000 attendees during the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, playing four songs including Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Dylan reportedly approached the Pope mid-set for a brief handshake and exchange.
During Wednesday’s encounter, Dylan wore a black hoodie, gloves, and carried a matching umbrella, contrasting with Pope Leo’s white vestments. Vatican photos showed Dylan with the hood over his head. Rev. Spadaro noted in an essay for L’Osservatore Romano that Dylan was familiar with St. Augustine of Hippo, whose spirituality aligns with Pope Leo’s Augustinian order, and referenced Dylan’s 1967 song I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine.
The Vatican described the meeting as a private audience, using Dylan’s birth name, Robert Allen Zimmerman, in official communications. Pope Leo, a known Dylan admirer, has previously incorporated the musician’s lyrics into his own writings, highlighting a shared cultural and spiritual connection between the two figures.