SAN DIEGO — Bob Dylan apparently doesn’t take his hoodie off for just anyone, including the pope, as was demonstrated Wednesday afternoon when the Nobel Prize-winning troubadour met with the pontiff at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace prior to Dylan’s concert in Rome. The pope gifted Dylan with a rosary, while the legendary singer-songwriter gave Leo a copy of Dylan’s 2004 autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One,” according to a report in the Vatican News.

The two likely had a lot to touch upon during their brief Vatican chat, beyond both being devoted longtime baseball fans. The Chicago-born Pope Leo quoted lyrics to Dylan’s obscure 1963 song, “Go Away You Bomb,” in the pope’s preface to the book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift,” which was published in July by the Vatican Publishing House. And Dylan, who is Jewish, was a born-again Christian from 1978 to 1981, a conversion that can be traced to his November 1978 concert at the San Diego Sports Arena.

During that performance, a fan threw a small silver cross onto the stage. Dylan picked it up, put it in his pocket and took it to his next tour stop in Arizona. There, in a Tucson hotel room, Dylan experienced what he later described as “a literal visitation from Jesus Christ.”

In a 1979 interview, Dylan recalled: “Towards the end of the (San Diego) show someone out in the crowd … knew I wasn’t feeling too well. I think they could see that. And they threw a silver cross on the stage. Now usually I don’t pick things up in front of the stage. Once in a while I do. Sometimes I don’t. But I looked down at that cross. I said, ‘I gotta pick that up.’

“So, I picked up the cross and I put it in my pocket … And I brought it backstage and I brought it with me to the next town, which was out in Arizona … I was feeling even worse than I’d felt when I was in San Diego. I said: ‘Well, I need something tonight.’ I didn’t know what it was. I was used to all kinds of things. I said, ‘I need something tonight that I didn’t have before.’ And I looked in my pocket and I had this cross.”

A subsequent article in the English newspaper The Independent referenced an interview in which Dylan elaborated on what happened as a result his having the cross. “Jesus put his hand on me,” Dylan said. “It was a physical thing. I felt it. I felt it all over me. I felt my whole body tremble. The glory of the Lord knocked me down and picked me up.”

The result was three “born-again” albums by Dylan, 1979’s “Slow Train Coming,” 1980’s “Saved” and 1981’s “Shot of Love,” after which he apparently returned to Judaism.

Pope Leo is not the first pontiff to chat with Dylan. In 1997, he exchanged words with Pope John Paul II after appearing as part of the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, Italy. Dylan performed four songs at that event, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Forever Young.” The pope, in turn, quoted some of the lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

One year later, in 1998, singer-songwriter Jewel performed at that year’s Vatican Christmas concert with a choir and an orchestra. She had been Dylan’s opening act for five concerts on the East Coast leg of his 1996 U.S. concert tour, where — at his invitation — she joined him to share vocals at two shows on his classic song “I Shall Be Released.”

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