Bob Dylan visits Pope Leo XIV at Vatican during Italy tour

Bob Dylan met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday during a break in his European concert schedule. The American musician visited the pontiff in Rome while traveling between performances in Milan and Rome. Vatican officials confirmed the encounter took place in private and lasted only a few minutes.

During the meeting, Leo presented Dylan with a rosary. In return, Dylan gave the pope a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One. Two Vatican figures accompanied the singer into the audience room. They included Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a ministry of culture official, and Andrea Monda, editor of L'Osservatore Romano.

Spadaro noted that Leo had a long-standing familiarity with Dylan's work. The pope, born in Chicago in 1955, grew up listening to Dylan's music. Spadaro also pointed out that Dylan wrote the song I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine in 1967, a reference to the spiritual figure who inspired Leo's religious order.

Leo recently quoted Dylan in his 2026 book, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift. In the text, the pope cited a lyric from an unpublished 1963 protest song called Go Away You Bomb. The line warned against the nuclear arms race: I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an' man-handled.

Dylan has had previous interactions with the papacy. He performed for Pope John Paul II and thousands of attendees in Bologna, Italy, in 1997. The 2016 Nobel Prize winner for Literature wore a black hoodie and a loose tie during the Wednesday meeting. Vatican photos showed him with his hood up while speaking with Leo.

Dylan, who was born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota, converted to Christianity in 1979. He later wrote songs such as Gotta Serve Somebody and Saved, which shifted his musical direction. In a 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal, he described himself as a religious person who reads scriptures, meditates, and prays.

Dylan played a concert in Milan on Monday. He is scheduled to perform in Rome on Thursday. At his last show before the Vatican visit, he sang his 1997 track Tryin' to Get to Heaven. The song includes the lyric: I've been all around the world, boys/Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door.