American singer-songwriter and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, with the encounter described on social media by Father Antonio Spadaro. He also shared two photographs showing Dylan and Pope Leo XIV together.
According to Spadaro's posts, the meeting took place as they were passing through the Apostolic Palace. Spadaro accompanied Bob Dylan to the meeting with the Pope alongside Andrea Monda.
Pope Leo XIV is not the first to be associated with Dylan. In his book, the Pope mentioned the American singer-songwriter in the context of efforts against the arms race and the nuclear threat. The Pope quoted Bob Dylan in the foreword of the book “Disarmata e disarmante. La pace è un dono” (“Disarmed and disarming: Peace is a gift”), published by the Vatican publishing house.
Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. He previously met Pope John Paul II in 1997 in Bologna, where he performed for the Pope on that occasion and sang several of his songs.
Dylan's next concert in Rome is scheduled for Thursday, 5 November 2026.
