Bob Dylan meets Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican

Today I accompanied Bob Dylan to Pope Leo together with Andrea Monda. Not without the emotion of experiencing an encounter that has the flavor of history and the sensation that, at every step in the Apostolic Palace, anything could have happened!. This is how Father Antonio Spadaro talks about the meeting in the Vatican between the American singer-songwriter and the Pontiff on social media, also publishing two photographs that portray them together: Dylan wears a black hood, while Pope Leo welcomes him in a moment destined to arouse great interest. A special appointment that precedes the artist's return to the Italian stage by a few days: Bob Dylan's next concert in Rome is scheduled for Thursday 5 November 2026, at 9 pm, at the EUR Palazzo dello Sport.

The appeal for peace

Bob Dylan, one of the absolute protagonists in the history of music, was recalled by Pope Leo XIV in his commitment against the arms race and the nuclear threat. The American singer-songwriter, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, was cited by the Pontiff in the preface to the volume Disarmata e disarmante. Peace is a gift, published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Leo XIV chose a passage from "Go Away You Bomb", a song written by Dylan in 1963 and dedicated to the threat of the atomic bomb, reporting the words with which the musician denounces man's responsibility in the construction and use of weapons. A non-random reference: through the voice of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, the Pope wanted to strengthen his message in favor of disarmament, recalling that security cannot be based on fear and nuclear deterrence, but on the concrete search for peace.

In-depth analysis

Bob Dylan in Milan, music at the center. Sealed smartphones