Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican

Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV in a private audience at the Vatican on November 4, an encounter that followed the pope’s public use of a Dylan song in a book about peace. The Vatican newspaper published photographs of the two together in the Apostolic Palace. Vatican News described the meeting as brief, with greetings and a few lighthearted exchanges. The pope gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan presented Leo with a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles Volume One. The accounts did not establish what else, if anything, the two discussed. Leo quoted Dylan’s 1963 antinuclear song “Go Away You Bomb” in the preface to a book published in July. The song, which has not been officially released or recorded, was written amid Cold War tensions. Its manuscript surfaced publicly in 2013, when it was auctioned, according to reports about the song’s history. The pope used the lyric in a book addressing peace. Dylan’s song includes a protest against nuclear weapons, while his wider catalogue includes songs associated with antiwar activism, such as “Masters of War” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The Vatican-linked accounts presented the earlier quotation as a connection between the musician’s work and...