Six Other Musicians Who Have Had an Audience With Pope Leo

Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican for a private audience on Wednesday, Nov. 4. According to the Vatican, the pope gave Dylan a rosary, and Dylan gave him a copy of his memoir Chronicles: Volume One.

Dylan, a Minnesota native and Nobel Prize winner, wore a dark hoodie with the hood up, a black jacket, a black zip-up, a loosely tied black polka-dot tie and black pants. He previously performed for and met Pope John Paul II in 1997.

A photo of Dylan with Leo, the first American-born pope, circulated amid discussion of Democratic wins in the midterm elections and prompted memes and quips, including comparisons to a mismatched crime-solving duo.

Leo, who is 71 and grew up in Chicago, began his papacy on May 8, 2025. He has met musicians including Patti Smith, Bad Bunny and Laura Pausini, and attended concerts by Michael Bublé and Italian conductor Riccardo Muti. He also oversaw, but did not attend, the September 2025 Grace for the World concert in St. Peter’s Square, which featured Andrea Bocelli, Karol G, Pharrell Williams, John Legend and Jennifer Hudson.

Laura Pausini

Italian pop singer Laura Pausini received Billboard Italy’s Global Icon award at a Vatican ceremony with Pope Leo on Nov. 12, 2025.

“I’m very excited and honored to have received the Global Icon award in the presence of the Pope,” Pausini told Billboard Italy. “It was a moment and an encounter that I will remember forever. I wanted to offer Him what represents my very soul, my voice and my music.”

Pausini also presented the pope with an unreleased rendition of “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures.”

Patti Smith

Patti Smith met Pope Leo at his desk at the Apostolic Palace on July 31, 2026. “This is a moment that shall forever produce a smile,” Smith said afterward.

Smith, who is also a Chicago native and is not Catholic, wore braids and a crucifix necklace. She had also marked the first anniversary of Leo’s papacy on May 8 by opening the Holy See’s Pavilion at the 61st international art exhibition of the Venice Biennale. There, she performed a sound prayer created with the Soundwalk Collective.

Andrea Bocelli

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, a 164-member international children’s choir and young people from crisis-impacted regions met the pope to dedicate a prayer for peace at Borgo Laudato si’ in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on July 29. The gathering marked the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death.

They sang a musical rendition of the saint’s “Canticle of Peace” and “Amazing Grace.” Bocelli also performed the Latin hymn “Panis Angelicus.”

Bocelli and his son Matteo sang at the September 2025 inauguration of Borgo Laudato Si’, a center dedicated to promoting ecology and sustainability rooted in Catholic teaching.

Bad Bunny

Pope Leo met Bad Bunny and some members of his family privately at Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid, Spain, on June 8, 2026. The meeting was one of several the pope held after a gathering with the diocesan community during an official visit to Spain.

Bad Bunny was in Madrid for a 10-concert residency at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour.

Louis ‘Blue Lou’ Marini

Pope Leo, a Chicago White Sox fan whose favorite pizza restaurant is Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood, is also a fan of The Blues Brothers, the 1980 Chicago-set musical comedy starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

When Leo met Louis “Blue Lou” Marini, a saxophonist in the film, at a religious gathering in Rimini, Italy, in August 2026, he referenced a line from the movie. According to reports, the pope shook Marini’s hand and told him he was “still on a mission from God,” a reference to Aykroyd’s line in the film.

Marini gave Leo a pair of Ray-Bans like those worn by the film’s stars and said that, if he had had time, he would have inscribed “Papa Cool” on them. Leo gave Marini two rosaries.

Karol G

Colombian singer Karol G performed her Mañana Será Bonito song “Mientras me curo el cora” and sang a duet with Andrea Bocelli on his 1995 song “Vivo Por Ella” at the Grace for the World concert in Vatican City in September 2025.

Leo did not attend the concert, which marked the closing of the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity, but performers honored him at the St. Peter’s Square event. They included Pharrell Williams, John Legend, Angélique Kidjo, Jennifer Hudson, Karol G and Bocelli.

“When [Bocelli] invited me, I said no, because I was super nervous,” Karol said on the Jennifer Hudson Show after the event. “It’s the Vatican, we’re going to sing in La Plaza San Pedro, I’m going to perform for a lot of people and with Andrea Bocelli. I don’t know if I’m ready, and I was doing a lot of stuff at the same time, so maybe it wasn’t the moment to do this? So, I said no. My mom got crazy, [and said], ‘How is this possible? Karol, this is an opportunity that you have every 25 years, because the jubilee is every 25 years.’ So I was like, ‘OMG that’s true, so maybe the opportunity came to me because I’m ready. I’m actually ready.’”

Source: Billboard