Pope Leo XIV Meets Bob Dylan at Vatican Palace

A meeting between music and the Catholic Church took place at the Vatican on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, when Pope Leo XIV received American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at the Apostolic Palace in Rome. The encounter brought together the Nobel Prize-winning musician and a pontiff who has previously referenced Dylan's songwriting in support of nuclear disarmament and peace.

The 85-year-old artist, whose birth name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, is visiting Italy as part of his ongoing concert tour. According to Vatican News, the meeting was brief and included greetings and several lighthearted exchanges.

Pope Leo XIV presented Dylan with a rosary during their encounter. The musician reciprocated by giving the pontiff a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, which has been published in the United States and other countries.

The meeting also recalled the Pope's use of Dylan's work in July 2026. In the preface to Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, published by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV), Leo XIV referenced lyrics from a protest song to highlight the dangers of nuclear weapons and global rearmament.

The pontiff quoted the following words from Dylan's composition:

"I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled" Pope Leo XIV quoted Dylan's lyrics in the book's preface.

The song, Go Away You Bomb, was written in 1963 during the Cold War. Vatican News reported that the composition was never officially recorded or released on an album. Its original manuscript remained unpublished until it was discovered in 2013.

Dylan is scheduled to perform in Rome on Thursday, November 5, at the Palazzo dello Sport. The concert forms part of the autumn leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, which also includes performances in Milan and Bologna. The tour has attracted attention for its strict prohibition on smartphone recording.

The Vatican encounter was not Dylan's first meeting with a pope. In 1997, he performed at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, where Pope John Paul II addressed approximately 300,000 young people.

During that event, Dylan performed three well-known songs, including Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. He subsequently removed his cowboy hat, approached the papal stage and exchanged a handshake and brief conversation with John Paul II.

In his address to the young audience, John Paul II also referenced Dylan's song Blowin’ in the Wind and its central question about the journey toward becoming a human being.

"You ask me: how many roads must a man walk down / before you can call him a man?" Pope John Paul II quoted the song during his address.

The Polish pontiff responded to the question by emphasizing the Christian path as the way forward for humanity.

"Only one. There is only one road for man, and that is the road of Jesus Christ." Pope John Paul II answered the audience during the 1997 gathering.