Bob Dylan made a special stop at the Vatican on November 4, 2026, meeting privately with Pope Leo XIV while touring Italy.
The Vatican confirmed that the 85-year-old singer-songwriter visited the Apostolic Palace in Rome for a brief conversation and exchange of gifts. Pope Leo presented Dylan with a rosary, while the musician gave him a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
The meeting followed an earlier connection between the two. In July, Pope Leo quoted Dylan’s 1963 anti-nuclear protest song Go Away You Bomb in a book addressing peace and disarmament. The song was never officially released on an album.
Dylan has met a pope before. In 1997, he performed for Pope John Paul II at a religious gathering in Bologna, Italy, where he sang several songs, including Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.
The visit came during Dylan’s ongoing Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, with a concert scheduled at Rome’s Palazzo dello Sport on November 5.
The meeting brought together two American figures with longstanding connections to music, faith, and discussions of peace.