Pope Leo hosts Bob Dylan at official residence in Rome

Pope Leo hosts Bob Dylan at official residence in Rome

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Bob Dylan to his official residence, the Apostolic Palace, on Wednesday during the singer-songwriter’s stop in Rome on his Italian tour.

Dylan, 85, arrived in a nearly all-black outfit, including a pulled-up hoodie, gloves and an umbrella, in sharp contrast to the Chicago-born pope’s all-white vestments.

According to Vatican News, the meeting between the two men, both from the US Midwest, was brief.

Leo gave the Nobel laureate a rosary, and Dylan presented Leo with a copy of his autobiography, *Chronicles: Volume One*.

The visit came before Dylan’s scheduled Thursday performance at the Palazzo dello Sport, one of several Italian dates on his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.

Leo has previously drawn on Dylan in his own writing, quoting Dylan’s unreleased anti-nuclear song, *Go Away You Bomb*, in the preface to a book titled *Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift*.

“I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled,” was the line quoted in the book’s warning to the world against rearmament.

The song was written in 1963 during the Cold War but was never recorded. According to the New York Times, the typed lyrics remained unpublished until 2013, when they were discovered and put up for auction.

This was the second time Dylan had met a pope. In 1997, Dylan was invited to perform before Pope John Paul II and about 300,000 young people at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna.

Dylan performed four songs, including *Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door*, and reportedly went up on stage mid-set to greet John Paul with a handshake and a few words.

The pope at the time quoted Dylan’s hit *Blowin’ in the Wind* in his sermon to the crowd.