The meeting between Dylan and the pope is significant, as it highlights the intersection of art and faith.
Bob Dylan met with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Wednesday, during a break between concert dates in Italy. The encounter was brief, with the pope giving Dylan a rosary and Dylan presenting the pope with a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
The Vatican said the meeting was a private one, with two Vatican officials accompanying Dylan. The Reverend Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official, and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, were present during the meeting.
According to the Vatican, Dylan had wanted to speak with the pope, and the two met in private for a few minutes. The pope had previously quoted from an unpublished protest song Dylan penned in 1963, “Go Away You Bomb”, in his 2026 book Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, has been open about his religious beliefs in the past. He famously became a born-again Christian in 1979 and has since been more circumspect about his beliefs. In a 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dylan said that he was a “religious person” who reads the scriptures, meditates and prays.
The meeting between Dylan and the pope is significant, as it highlights the intersection of art and faith. The pope's admiration for Dylan's work, particularly his protest songs, suggests a shared concern for social justice and peace. The meeting also underscores the pope's efforts to engage with artists and intellectuals, and to promote a culture of dialogue and understanding.
