Overview
- The Vatican confirmed that on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Pope León XIV received Bob Dylan for a short private audience in the Apostolic Palace.
- Photos released by Vatican Media show Dylan dressed in black with a hood and shaking the pope's hand in a library room at the Apostolic Palace.
- Jesuit priest Antonio Spadaro accompanied Dylan to the meeting and described on social media the emotion of escorting the musician into the Vatican.
- Vatican reports say the encounter was cordial and brief and included an exchange of gifts, with the pope giving a rosary and Dylan presenting his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One.
- The visit came as Dylan was in Rome for a European tour with a concert the next day and follows the pope's July citation of an early Dylan verse on disarmament, linking the encounter to the pontiff's ongoing cultural and moral outreach.