Dylan trades rosary, autobiography with new pope in brief Vatican meeting
The Nobel laureate visited Leo XIV during a break in his Italian tour, marking the second papal audience in his career.
By Samuel Hayes ·
Bob Dylan presented a copy of his autobiography to Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a brief, private meeting at the Vatican. The encounter occurred while Dylan was in Rome for a concert scheduled for Thursday. According to Vatican officials, the two men spoke alone for a few minutes. Leo gave Dylan a rosary as a gift.
The visit was arranged by the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official who accompanied Dylan to the meeting. Spadaro was joined by Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Spadaro stated that Dylan requested the audience. He noted that Leo, born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, grew up familiar with Dylan's music. Spadaro also pointed out that Dylan wrote the 1967 song I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, referencing the saint who inspires Leo's spirituality.
Leo has cited Dylan's work in his own writings. In his 2026 book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, Leo quoted a lyric from an unpublished 1963 protest song titled Go Away You Bomb. The lyric reads, I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an' man-handled. Leo used the quote to argue against the race to rearm and the reliance on nuclear weapons.
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, wore a black hoodie and a loose tie during the visit. Vatican photographs show him with the hood pulled over his head. He was born Robert Zimmerman to a Jewish family in Minnesota. He converted to Christianity in 1979 and released songs such as Gotta Serve Somebody and Saved. In a 2022 interview with the Wall Street Journal, he described himself as a religious person who reads scriptures, meditates, and prays.
This is not Dylan's first interaction with a pope. In 1997, he performed for Pope John Paul II and thousands of attendees in Bologna, Italy, at the end of a religious congress. Dylan played Milan on Monday and is scheduled to perform in Rome on Thursday. Prior to the Vatican meeting, he sang his 1997 song Tryin' to Get to Heaven, which includes the line, I've been all around the world, boys/Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door.
