Pope Leo XIV has made time for several revered musicians this past year, including Patti Smith and Bad Bunny. On Wednesday, he also held a private audience with Bob Dylan.
His Holiness showcased his fondness for the revered songwriter in his book, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, in a citation. The pope quoted Dylan’s unpublished 1963 protest song “Go Away You Bomb” in the book. “‘I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned an’ man-handled,’” the pope quoted from Dylan. The previously unreleased song’s lyrics, which were typewritten and then corrected by hand, were auctioned by Christie’s in the summer of 2013.
It was written by Dylan in 1963 for Izzy Young of the Greenwich Village Folklore Center. “I asked everyone I knew to write a song about the nuclear bomb,” Young told Rolling Stone in 2013. “Bob Dylan came in literally the next day and handed this to me.”
In the pope’s book, he quoted Dylan’s “Go Away You Bomb” and also commended pacifist Dorothy Day for her work for peace.
According to Vatican News, the pair’s meeting on Wednesday was “brief” and consisted of “greetings and a few lighthearted exchanges.” The pair exchanged gifts: The pope presented Dylan a rosary and Dylan gave the pope his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
In June, Pope Leo met with Bad Bunny and others while both were touring Spain. “If they are confronted with the question do they want to see Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope, I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo acknowledged of the musician’s popularity. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something.”
Fellow Chicagoan Patti Smith met with Pope Leo in August. “This is a moment that shall forever produce a smile,” Smith wrote on Instagram of the encounter at the time.
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The pope’s pop culture knowledge has made its way into other works beyond his book. His first encyclical, Magnifca Humanitas, addressed human dignity in a time of troubling artificial intelligence, referencing everything from Picasso to Tolkien’s Gandalf and Schindler’s List.
His Holiness also made news last month after he submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the midterm elections, making history as he became the first pope to vote in a U.S. general election.
