Pope Leo XIV spent time with several revered musicians last year, including Patti Smith and Bad Bunny. On Wednesday, he also held a private audience with Bob Dylan.
His Holiness showed his affection for the revered songwriter in his book: Disarmed and disarming: peace is a giftin a quote. The pope cited Dylan’s unreleased 1963 protest song, “Go Away You Bomb,” in the book. “I hate you because you are made by man, possessed by man and manipulated by man,” the Pope quoted Dylan as saying. The lyrics of the unreleased song, typed and then corrected by hand, were sold at auction 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 said. rolling stone in 2013. “Bob Dylan came in literally the next day and handed me this.”
In the pope’s book, he cited Dylan’s “Go Away You Bomb” and also praised pacifist Dorothy Day for her work for peace.
According to Vatican News, Wednesday’s meeting was “brief” and consisted of “greetings and some light exchanges.” The two men exchanged gifts: the pope gave Dylan a rosary and Dylan gave the pope his autobiography. Chronicles: Volume One.
In June, Pope Leo met with Bad Bunny and others while they were both on tour in Spain. “If they are faced 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 admitted of the musician’s popularity. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that means something.”
Patti Smith, a fellow Chicagoan, met with Pope Leo in August. “This is a moment that will forever produce a smile,” Smith wrote on Instagram about the encounter at the time.
Pope’s insights into pop culture have found their way into other works beyond his book. His first encyclical, Magnifca Humanitasdealt with human dignity in an age of troubling artificial intelligence, referencing everything from Picasso to Tolkien’s Gandalf to Schindler’s List.
His Holiness also made news last month after submitting his mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the midterm elections, making history by becoming the first pope to vote in a general election in the United States.
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