Bob Dylan, Wearing Hoodie, Meets Pope

Pope Leo XIV met Bob Dylan in a private audience at the Vatican on 4 November, bringing together the famously private musician and a pontiff who has shown interest in his work. The meeting drew attention partly because Dylan arrived in a black hoodie with the hood up, and partly because Leo had previously welcomed Patti Smith.

Vatican photographs showed Dylan signing a book for the Pope. Raised Jewish, Dylan converted to evangelical Christianity in 1978 and released several Christian albums, though he later reduced the religious focus of his performances; he also played at a 1997 concert honouring Pope John Paul II. Leo quoted Dylan’s little-known 1963 anti-nuclear lyric “Go Away You Bomb” in the preface to an anthology of his speeches.