Pope receives black-clad Bob Dylan

On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV met with American singer Bob Dylan at the Vatican. The 85-year-old musician, whose real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, was in Italy on tour at the time. According to Vatican News, the brief meeting involved greetings and some light-hearted exchanges. The pope presented Dylan with a rosary, while Dylan gifted the pontiff his autobiography.

Notably, Pope Leo, who is the first U.S. pope, referenced a Bob Dylan lyric in the preface of a book about disarmament he published earlier this year. The Pope, 71, has consistently held anti-war views and had a contentious relationship with former U.S. President Donald Trump due to his criticism of the Middle East conflict.

Dylan is not the first musician the Pope has met; he performed at a prayer vigil for young people in Bologna in 1997 hosted by John Paul II. Dylan, whose career began in 1963, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. The Pope is scheduled to undergo surgery in the coming days for a lung nodule.