Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV as Pair Exchange a Rosary and a Copy of the Folk Rocker’s Autobiography

Lily BrownWed, November 4, 2026 at 10:55 PM UTC

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Bob Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV during a private audience at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on Nov. 4, 2026Credit: Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty -

Pope Leo XIV previously quoted Bob Dylan’s unreleased 1963 anti-nuclear song in a book about disarmament

The pair exchanged a rosary and Dylan’s autobiography during their private Vatican audience

Dylan also met Pope John Paul II in 1997 after performing at a Eucharistic Congress in Italy

Bob Dylan has spent decades knocking on heaven’s door — and on Wednesday, Nov. 4, he got a pretty special invitation inside.

The legendary singer-songwriter, 85, met Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, during a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, where the two famous Bobs finally came face-to-face.

Photos shared by the Vatican’s newspaper on X showed the pair shaking hands, with the 71-year-old pontiff dressed in his traditional white cassock and Dylan sporting a black coat, black gloves and a black hoodie.

Pope Leo XIV poses with Bob Dylan at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Vatican on Nov. 4, 2026Credit: Vatican Pool/Getty

The meeting was arranged with the help of Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official known for building bridges between the Catholic Church and the entertainment world. Spadaro, 60, who also helped arrange Pope Leo’s meeting with Patti Smith earlier this year, shared his excitement about the encounter on social media.

“It was hard not to feel the emotion of being part of an encounter that had a real sense of history about it, with the feeling that, at every step through the Apostolic Palace, absolutely anything could happen!” Spadaro wrote on X.

And it turns out Pope Leo is quite the Dylan fan.

According to CNN, the Chicago-born pontiff previously quoted the singer’s little-known 1963 anti-nuclear protest song, “Go Away You Bomb,” in the preface to a book about disarmament published in July. The song, which was never officially recorded or released, was written at the height of the Cold War and speaks to the dangers of nuclear weapons — a message that aligns with Leo’s own calls for peace.

The two also exchanged a couple of meaningful gifts during their meeting: Pope Leo gave Dylan a rosary, while the musician presented the pontiff with a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.

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Of course, this isn’t Dylan’s first time meeting a pope.

Bob Dylan sits with Pope Leo XIV during a private audience in Vatican City on Nov. 4, 2026Credit: Vatican Pool/Getty

Back in 1997, the musician performed at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, Italy, where Pope John Paul II was in attendance. Dylan played several of his classics, including “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” before shaking hands with the pontiff.

John Paul II even referenced Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” during his address to the crowd, famously responding to the song’s question about how many roads a man must walk down before he is called a man.

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“You asked me: how many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? I answer you: one! There is only one road of man and it is Christ, who said: ‘I am the way,’” John Paul II said at the time. The former head of the Catholic Church, who also served as sovereign of Vatican City from 1978 until his death in 2005, died at age 84.

Nearly three decades later, Dylan has found himself back in papal company — and this time, he didn’t even need to bring his guitar. While the Vatican has yet to share details of their conversation, Dylan’s black hooded sweatshirt has already sparked plenty of online chatter.

Social media users compared his look to Evil Kermit from Muppets Most Wanted, Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine and the undercover spies from MADtv. Others, including Reuters, joked that the singer was quite literally “blowing” his meeting with the pope — a playful nod to Dylan’s iconic song “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Dylan is also showing no signs of slowing down on the road. The singer is currently touring across Europe, with upcoming stops in Antwerp, Zurich, Milan, Rome, Vienna and Munich, as well as London’s Royal Festival Hall, through December 2026.

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Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”