Pope Leo XIV Meets 85-Year-Old Bob Dylan, Exchanges Rosary for Memoir

Q: What secret conversations passed between Bob Dylan and Pope Leo XIV during their brief, highly unusual Vatican meeting?

No one outside the room knows the substance of the private conversation, and the Vatican has disclosed only that it lasted a few minutes and involved greetings and “a few lighthearted exchanges.” What can be said with confidence is that the meeting had clear themes. Pope Leo XIV has publicly admired Dylan’s work, especially the unpublished 1963 anti-nuclear song “Go Away You Bomb,” which he quoted in his book on peace and disarmament. Vatican-linked accounts also indicate Leo brought up that song in the context of peace, nuclear danger and rearmament. The exchange of gifts offers the best concrete clue to the tone of the audience. Leo gave Dylan a rosary, while Dylan handed the pope his memoir, *Chronicles: Volume One*. That suggests a symbolic conversation as much as a verbal one: religion, memory, art and the moral role of culture. There is also broader context for likely points of contact. Vatican officials accompanying Dylan, including Rev. Antonio Spadaro, have emphasized the pope’s longstanding familiarity with Dylan’s music and Dylan’s own engagement with religious themes, including St. Augustine in “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine.” Dylan has also described himself in recent years as a religious person who reads scripture, meditates and prays. So the “secret” part remains secret. The verified picture is of a short, cordial, private meeting centered on peace, culture and spirituality, not a substantive public statement or negotiated message.

3 articles · Updated · Vatican News - English · Nov 4

A brief private audience at the Vatican brought Pope Leo XIV together with Bob Dylan, who is in Rome ahead of a Nov. 5 concert at the Palazzo dello Sport.
The two exchanged gifts during the meeting: Leo gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan handed over his autobiography, "Chronicles: Volume One."
Leo had already invoked Dylan's 1963 anti-nuclear song "Go Away You Bomb" in a July 2026 book preface warning against global rearmament and nuclear weapons.
The encounter revived a rare Vatican-Dylan link dating to 1997, when Dylan performed before John Paul II and roughly 300,000 young people in Bologna.