Bob Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican ahead of Rome concert

Dylan was accompanied by Father Antonio Spadaro and Andrea Monda, the editor of L’Osservatore Romano, according to the supplied reports. The meeting was described as private and brief, with no detailed account of the conversation released in the available material.

The visit came as Dylan was in Rome for a scheduled performance at the Palazzo dello Sport. Reports linked his Vatican appearance to the concert, which was due to take place during his Italian dates.

The encounter also revisited a connection between Dylan’s work and Leo’s public writing on war and peace. The pope had previously cited Dylan’s work in a Vatican-published book or preface warning against rearmament and nuclear weapons.

The precise setting within the Vatican is described with different levels of specificity in the reporting. Euronews placed the meeting in the Apostolic Palace, while the broader, cross-source account identifies the location as the Vatican.

Beyond the exchange of the rosary and autobiography, the available reports do not establish what Dylan and Leo discussed. PBS NewsHour, citing Spadaro, reported that Dylan wanted to speak with the pope and that the two met privately for a few minutes; the substance of that conversation remains unreported.