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Bob Dylan met privately with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, and Antonio Spadaro, the Holy See official who arranged the meeting, has shared details of its timing and setting. Spadaro said Dylan was interested in meeting the pope but declined to say what they discussed.
Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV in a private audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, according to Antonio Spadaro, the Holy See official who arranged the meeting. In an interview with Dylan writer Ray Padgett, Spadaro said Dylan wanted to meet the pope, described how the visit unfolded and declined to disclose what the two discussed.
Spadaro is a Jesuit priest and undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education. He spoke with Padgett for the Substack newsletter Flagging Down The Double E, sharing details of the meeting that had not been included in the initial public images. Spadaro said Dylan and his entourage were expected at 3:45 p.m. but arrived 15 minutes early. They waited until 4:20 p.m. before going to the pope’s apartment in the Vatican palace, an area known as the Terza Loggia.
“The Pope and Dylan sat down at a table in the library, like two old friends,” Spadaro told Padgett. He said he would not, or could not, reveal the subject of their conversation, but described the way they looked at each other as “beautiful, intense.” Spadaro also said the meeting was private rather than formal, and that Dylan’s clothing — including a black hooded sweatshirt over a shirt and tie — did not appear to trouble Leo.
Spadaro would not say whose idea the meeting was. He told Padgett, however, that “Dylan was interested in meeting Leo, and Leo was completely open to it.” His account provides no transcript or detailed account of the conversation, and no public statement from either Dylan or the pope about its subject was included in the report.
Dylan’s Music Meets the Vatican
The audience links a globally influential musician with a pope who, according to Spadaro, has longstanding cultural familiarity with American popular music. Spadaro described Leo as having grown up with the pop, folk and rock of the 1960s and 1970s. He also pointed to the pope’s public use of Dylan-related references when speaking about war and nuclear weapons.
The encounter also draws attention because Dylan’s songs have often engaged with religious and political themes, while his own religious history includes a period of public evangelical Christianity. That history offers context for the meeting, but it does not establish what either man said or intended during the audience. For readers, the confirmed details are about the meeting’s private, personal setting; its meaning beyond that remains open.
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Dylan’s Earlier Papal Encounter
This was not Dylan’s first meeting with a pope. In 1997, he performed Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door before Pope John Paul II and an audience of about 300,000 young people at the Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, according to the original report. The Wednesday audience with Leo was a private meeting at the Vatican, not a concert or public event.
Spadaro also cited Leo’s references to Dylan’s work. He said the pope echoed themes from Masters of War in Cameroon in April and used lines from Go Away You Bomb in July while speaking against nuclear rearmament. These references were described by Spadaro as part of the pope’s cultural relationship with Dylan’s music; they do not show that the songs were discussed at the audience.
Dylan’s own connection to Christian themes includes his late-1970s conversion to born-again Christianity and three religious albums released from 1979 to 1981: Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love. That background is distinct from the reported Vatican meeting and does not indicate that the conversation focused on faith.
““Dylan was interested in meeting Leo, and Leo was completely open to it.””
— Antonio Spadaro, speaking to Ray Padgett
The Conversation Remains Private
What Dylan and Leo discussed is not known. Spadaro declined to disclose the subject, and the source report included no comments from Dylan or the pope about the exchange. Spadaro also did not identify who initiated the meeting, saying only that Dylan was interested and Leo was open to it.
The account is based on Spadaro’s interview and recollection; it does not provide a recording or transcript. It is also unclear whether either participant plans to share further details. References to Dylan’s songs and Leo’s musical background offer context, but they cannot be treated as evidence that those topics came up in their private conversation.
No Further Details Announced
The meeting has taken place, and Spadaro’s interview is the available account of its arrangements and atmosphere. The report does not identify a scheduled follow-up, a public statement from the Vatican or Dylan, or any plan to release more information about the discussion.
Any additional account would need to come from Dylan, the pope or their representatives. Until then, the confirmed record is limited to the private audience, its timing and setting as described by Spadaro, and his statement that the conversation itself would remain undisclosed.
Key Questions
When did Bob Dylan meet Pope Leo XIV?
They met on Wednesday, according to Antonio Spadaro, who arranged the audience. The report says Dylan’s group arrived early and went to the pope’s apartment at about 4:20 p.m.
Where did the audience take place?
Spadaro said Dylan and the pope met in the library of Leo’s apartment in the Vatican palace, in an area known as the Terza Loggia.
What did Dylan and the pope discuss?
The subject of their conversation has not been disclosed. Spadaro declined to say what they discussed, and the report included no public account from Dylan or Leo.
Who arranged the meeting?
Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest and undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, said he arranged it. He did not say who first proposed the audience.
Had Dylan met a pope before?
Yes. Dylan performed Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door for Pope John Paul II at a 1997 Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, before an audience reported to number about 300,000 young people.
Source: stereogum.com
