VATICAN CITY (AP) — Bob Dylan came knockin’ on Pope Leo XIV’ s door Wednesday, as the American singer-songwriter and poet visited with the American pope at the Vatican during a break between concert dates in Italy.
The Vatican said the encounter was brief, with Leo giving Dylan a rosary and Dylan presenting the pope with a copy of his autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One.”
Leo had quoted from an unpublished protest song Dylan penned in 1963, “Go Away You Bomb,” in his 2026 book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.”
Leo was warning against the race to rearm and the recourse to nuclear weapons and quoted the lyric, addressed to a hypothetical atomic bomb: “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.”
Two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan: the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official who also accompanied Patti Smith to a July audience with Leo; and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
Spadaro said Dylan had wanted to speak with Leo, and the two met in private for a few minutes. In an essay in L'Osservatore Romano, he recalled that the former Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago in 1955, grew up familiar with Dylan's music.
He also noted that Dylan was very familiar with St. Augustine of Hippo, the inspiration of Leo's spirituality and Augustinian religious order, penning “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” for the 1967 album John Wesley Harding.
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, wore a black hoodie and a loose tie. Vatican photos of the encounter showed him with the hood over his head.
It wasn’t Dylan’s first papal encounter: He played for Pope John Paul II, and thousands of other people, in 1997 during a concert capping a religious congress in Bologna, Italy.
Dylan, who changed his name from Robert Zimmerman, was born to a Jewish family in Minnesota. He famously became a born-again Christian in 1979 and alienated some of his longtime fans with songs like “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “Saved.”
In more recent years, Dylan has been more circumspect about his religious beliefs. In a 2022 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dylan said that he was a “religious person” who reads the scriptures, meditates and prays.
Dylan met with Leo in between concert dates in Italy. He played in Milan on Monday and is playing Rome on Thursday. In his most recent concert before the meeting with the pope, Dylan sang his 1997 song “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” that contains the lyric, “I’ve been all around the world, boys/Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door."
AP reporter Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV, right, and the singer and Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan, left, talk during a meeting in the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (Vatican Media/LaPresse via AP)
Pope Leo XIV, left, and the singer and Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan, right, pose for a photo during a meeting in the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (Vatican Media/LaPresse via AP)
Pope Leo XIV, right, and the singer and Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan, left, shake hands during a meeting in the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (Vatican Media/LaPresse via AP)
Real Madrid produced another late comeback in the Champions League as Federico Valverde struck in stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win over AEK Athens on Wednesday.
Liverpool, however, fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat at Fenerbahce on a dramatic night of action, while Manchester City battled to victory over RB Leipzig by the same score after twice blowing leads, and Como beat Lens 9-1.
Last season's runner-up Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 2-1.
Madrid joined back-to-back defending champion Paris Saint-Germain as the only other team to have a 100% winning record after four games played in this season's competition. But that perfect start was put under serious threat in Greece.
The record 15-time European champion twice went behind at Allwyn Arena and needed Valverde's long-range strike in the 92nd minute to seal victory.
"Of course, I prefer to win more comfortably, but these games in the final minutes — only we can win them,” Madrid coach Mourinho told broadcaster Movistar.
Madrid also needed a late rally to beat Roma 4-3 last month, scoring three goals in the last 10 minutes, including a 90th minute winner from Antonio Rudiger.
AEK led through Aboubakary Koita in the first half before Jude Bellingham leveled with a back heel.
Stavros Pilios put the home team 2-1 ahead in the 75th, but Kylian Mbappé equalized three minutes later.
Mbappé then hit the bar before Valverde's dramatic winner.
“The players have courage. I’m very lucky to have players of this quality. Very lucky,” Mourinho said.
Madrid is second in the standings, behind PSG on goal difference.
Liverpool twice blew the lead against Fenerbahce before losing for the first time in this season's Champions League.
Trey Nyoni and Alexander Isak gave the Merseyside club the lead in each half, with former Manchester United striker Mason Greenwood and Archie Brown leveling for Fenerbahce on each occasion.
Vedat Muriqi struck the winner in the 89th as Liverpool fell to back-to-back losses in all competitions following defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
“The main reason I can find for why we lost this game is we conceded from three set pieces,” Liverpool coach Andoni Iraola said. “We knew it was one of the strengths of Fenerbahce. We concede from a free-kick, a corner and even from the long throw at the end. It’s frustration because it’s a difficult place to come here and play.”
Victory will have been particularly sweet for Fenerbahce interim coach, former Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt.
It was Fenebahce's first win in the Champions League since 2008.
Erling Haaland came back to haunt Leipzig and drag City over the line after being pushed to the limit at Red Bull Arena.
The Norway striker has scored 13 goals against the German club from his time at Borussia Dortmund and City. He came up with the winner in the 78th after City twice failed to hold onto the lead.
Haaland, who scored five goals in City’s 7-0 rout of Leipzig in 2023, slid in to turn home Elliot Anderson’s cross to seal victory.
City led through an own goal from Castello Lukeba in the first half but conceded four minutes into the second half when Ridle Baku equalized.
Enzo Fernandez headed City back in front and Antonio Nusa leveled again soon after, leaving to Haaland to hit his 14th goal of the season.
First-half goals from Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres put Arsenal on course for victory at Slavia Prague and despite conceding in the 90th, the Premier League champion sealed a 2-1 win.
Tasos Douvikas scored a hat trick and Cesc Fabregas’ Como routed Lens 9-1 to make it three victories in four matches of its debut season in the competition.
Douvikas has scored in all four of Como’s matches.
Nico Paz also found the net and then instead of celebrating went and grabbed a T-shirt featuring an image of Jesús de Miguel, the Tenerife forward who died following an on-field collision with the opposing team’s goalkeeper.
Paz spent time in Tenerife’s youth system from 2014-16.
Napoli coach Massimiliano Allegri was in crisis following a 4-1 loss at Porto.
Gabriel Veiga, Jakub Kiwior and Samu Aghehowa scored in the second half for the hosts after Scott McTominay’s momentary equalizer.
It was Napoli’s third loss in four matches of the league phase; and the Partenopei are struggling in Serie A, too — having been beat 2-0 at Juventus on Sunday.
Porto has a perfect 10 wins in 10 matches to lead the Portuguese league but had lost its opening three matches in the Champions League.
Konstantinos Karetsas’ first goal for Borussia Dortmund gave the 1997 champion a 2-1 win over Real Betis.
The Greek winger entered for the injured Serhou Guirassy with 10 minutes of the first half remaining and was involved in the buildup after the break when Fábio Silva opened the scoring off the rebound from Álvaro Vallés’ save of Jobe Bellingham’s initial effort.
Aitor Ruibal equalized in the 67th to set off wild celebrations among the many visiting supporters.
Vallés pulled off a point-blank save to deny Bellingham an immediate response before he was finally beaten by Karetsas for what proved the winner in the 72nd.
It gave Dortmund three wins from four games.
Portuguese winger Carlos Forbs scored for the second straight Champions League game to give Club Brugge a 2-1 win at PSV Eindhoven.
Norwegian club Viking earned its first victory in the Champions League proper by beating Azerbaijani club Sabah 4-1.
In the second-tier Europa League, Rennes drew 0-0 with Olympiakos.
James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Como's head coach Cesc Fabregas celebrates after the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Lens and Como in Lens, France, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Manchester City's Erling Haaland, center, celebrates after scoring this side third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between RB Leibzig and Manchester City in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Fenerbahce's Kojo Peprah Oppong celebrates at the end of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Fenerbahce and Liverpool in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Fenerbahce's Archie Brown, center, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Fenerbahce and Liverpool in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Liverpool's Alexander Isak celebrates after scoring his side's second goalduring the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Fenerbahce and Liverpool in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
AEK Athens' Stavros Pilios celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between AEK Athens and Real Madrid in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe has a shot blocked during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between AEK Athens and Real Madrid in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid players celebrate with Federico Valverde after he scored his side's third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between AEK Athens and Real Madrid in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Manchester City's manager Enzo Maresca speakes during a team's press conference in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, ahead of the Champions League soccer match against RB Leipzig. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP)
Liverpool's manager Andoni Iraola smiles before the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Arsenal in Liverpool, England, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Racing de Santander and Real Madrid in Santander, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Real Madrid's head coach Jose Mourinho watches during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Racing de Santander and Real Madrid in Santander, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
