Bob Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV in private Vatican audience
Nobel laureate Bob Dylan shares a private audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.
(Photo via NPR)
American singer-songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan met with Pope Leo XIV during a private audience at the Vatican on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. The meeting occurred while the 85-year-old musician was in Italy for his ongoing Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.
The Vatican described the encounter as a brief meeting characterized by greetings and lighthearted exchanges. During the visit, Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pontiff, presented Dylan with a rosary. In return, the musician gifted the Pope a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
The private audience was facilitated by Vatican official Rev. Antonio Spadaro and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Reflecting on the event, Spadaro noted on social media that the encounter carried a sense of historical significance.
The meeting follows a public connection established earlier this year. In July 2026, Pope Leo XIV quoted lyrics from Dylan’s 1963 unpublished protest song, Go Away You Bomb, in the preface to the Vatican-published book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift. The Pope utilized the lines, which criticize man-made weaponry, to address concerns regarding global rearmament.
This visit marks another chapter in the musician's history with the papacy, having previously performed for Pope John Paul II during the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in 1997. Following the Vatican visit, Dylan is scheduled to perform at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026.