Pope Leo XIV meets Bob Dylan in Vatican City, Holy See

Pope Leo XIV and the musician Bob Dylan met on a Wednesday at the Vatican, according to reports. The Vatican newspaper confirmed the meeting, saying the Pope had received “Mr. Robert Allen Zimmerman,” Dylan’s birth name, in a private audience.

CNN World reported that the two met at the Apostolic Palace, the Pope’s residence. The source describes Leo as wearing white and Dylan as wearing a black coat, black gloves and a black hoodie.

The meeting was organized by Reverend Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican representative known for his work building links between the Church and the wider cultural world. Earlier this year, Spadaro had also arranged a meeting between Leo and the musician Patti Smith. On social media, Spadaro wrote that it had been hard not to worry about taking part in a meeting of real historical significance.

The source reports that in a preface to the July compilation of his speeches and reflections, Leo quoted Dylan’s unpublished 1963 song “Go Away You Bomb,” an anti-nuclear protest song. In the same preface, Leo criticized the war in Iran and stressed that the Catholic Church opposes nuclear weapons, a call for peace (Matthew 5:9).

Leo was not the first pope to meet Dylan. The source states that Dylan performed several songs, including “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” at a church event in Bologna, Italy, which Pope John Paul II visited in 1997.

The source also reports that John Paul II, referring to a line from “Blowin’ in the Wind,” asked how many roads a man must travel before being called a man. He answered that there is only one way, Christ, who said, “I am the way.”

Source: Read the original report (translated from Russian)