Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV, gifting autobiography after papal book cites 1963 lyric
The Nobel laureate presented the American pope with 'Chronicles: Volume One' during a brief private audience in Rome between concert dates.
By Ibrahim Howard ·
Bob Dylan presented a copy of his autobiography, 'Chronicles: Volume One,' to Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a private audience at the Vatican. The meeting took place in Rome while Dylan was on break between concert dates in Italy. In return, the pope gave the singer-songwriter a rosary.
The encounter was brief and conducted in private. Two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan to the meeting: Rev. Antonio Spadaro, an official at the Vatican culture ministry, and Andrea Monda, editor of L'Osservatore Romano. Spadaro stated that Dylan requested the meeting to speak with the pontiff.
The connection between the two figures is rooted in a 2026 book by Leo titled 'Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.' In that text, the pope quoted a line from an unpublished Dylan song from 1963 called 'Go Away You Bomb.' The lyric, addressed to an atomic weapon, reads: 'I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an' man-handled.' Leo used the quote to argue against the modern race to rearm and the reliance on nuclear weapons.
Spadaro noted in an essay for L'Osservatore Romano that Leo, formerly known as Robert Prevost, grew up in Chicago listening to Dylan's music. Spadaro also pointed out Dylan's historical interest in St. Augustine of Hippo, the spiritual inspiration for Leo's Augustinian order. Dylan wrote the song 'I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine' for his 1967 album 'John Wesley Harding.'
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, wore a black hoodie and a loose tie for the audience. Vatican photographs showed him with the hood pulled over his head. He is not new to papal interactions; he performed for Pope John Paul II in 1997 during a concert in Bologna that capped a religious congress.
The American singer, born Robert Zimmerman to a Jewish family in Minnesota, converted to Christianity in 1979. He has described himself as a 'religious person' who prays and reads the scriptures. Ahead of the Vatican meeting, Dylan performed in Milan on Monday. In that show, he sang 'Tryin' to Get to Heaven,' a 1997 track containing the line 'Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door.' He is scheduled to play in Rome on Thursday.
