Bob Dylan is a genius.
He said some profound things.

Bob Dylan was lost once Led Zeppelin took off in 1968. He never regained anything after Zeppelin. No one did. Dylan is 2nd page news now…always was though.

Scorsese says the same thing as Ratzinger in No Direction Home, or implies it anyway. Dylan, who is the epitome of a Pharisee, strings together a bunch of Biblical-sounding shit that provides no answers and makes no sense. That confusion engenders despair, and that despair engenders sin. He is the very definition of a false prophet and he is partially responsible for the most spiritually moronic generation in history, the baby boomers.

Cardinal Rat Zinger hates Bob and loves Carols
Each time he hears him he Seig Heils and snarls
See Bob aint no Ayran,can’t be nailed in a Booth
He was just a Young Rebel
Not Hitlerian Youth
Ah but you who think deep about things
About starving and war and no Hope
Just hold out your empty foood bowl
The Vaticans rich..ask The Pope.

This guy has never had even one original thought recorded as a song; but the way he puts a dossier together makes the CIA/KGB look like a bunch of Girl Scouts and yeah, here they were run by Robin Millhouse’s wife and that’s why he got “impeached” as Millhouse Nixon the “ice cream is oral sex” President. Oops I’ve said too much.

HaHa the Pope is funny. Did he ever realize that most of my songs are about my faith? Haaaaaa….

Ta Ta!!

a classic case of “prophet envy”

i wonder if the pope can even carry a tune?

What, did Bob blow Ratz off? There’s nothing wrong with those songs, so i’m not sure why the hell he needed to make these bitter comments. JP II was at least a man of the theatre who enjoyed the arts.

Benedict is just mad becuase the Hitler youth took his “Blonde on Blonde” away. Ahhh…the Catholic church…something new every day.

serching for a heroin,
she can save me from the night
cold steel and old rage
in the old world its slavery tonight….

People seem to be forgetting, Dylan’s music for about the last 28 years since the song o sister has been pretty much 90% Christian. I’d like to seen that Nazi of a pope come up with a song like every grain of sand, Dylan’s words have probably have touched people the pope has probably touched people as well mainly small boys though. I think JC would have quite a bit more in common with Dylan than the pope.

Uhhh, Benedict, you’re a little to late, over 40 years to late, Bob was called a “Judas” before. And by the way Benedict, whoever isn’t being “reborn” is busy dying. Ah, be we were so much older than, we are younger than that now

dylan is g*r*e*a*t
B*ob pleas*e *com*e bck *to *moncton,* N>*B* Canada************************ ************************

I was raised in a very Catholic home and school. Believe me, it’s all about bringing in the money.
Billions roll into the Vatican every week, and this medieval asshole is going to slam anything that doesn’t contribute.

Dylan wrote several lines about hatred that a few of those who have posted their comments here might want to read again.

According to this Catholic omnipresent power, anyone or anything not specifically glorifying the Catholic Church is vial and depraved. I’m surprised anyone believes in this type of medival thinking nowadays. John Paul seemed more open, even willing to meet with leaders of different faiths. As Victor Hugo wrote, “There is in every village a torch - the teacher, and an extinguisher - the clergyman.

Again, nothing is revealed..

What Karl Marx is saying now…”Man it is hot down here. Pass me one of those opiates!”

the only thing more obnoxious than religious zealots are anti-religious ones…

Bob Dylan is me, I am Bob Dylan.

No disrespect to you religious folk, but religion is funny. Why do you need someone to tell you what to do and how to think. I live in Utah where Mormons think you will certainly go to hell if you don’t go to church every Sunday. Why is this? Oh well, I guess we all have our own views and should respect the views of others. If you’re causing no harm, your alright with me.

Insert stupid comment here.

u know what?
i’m gonna pray an Our Father 4 all of u right now…

Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Religion is the opiate of the masses.

Yea, the Pope don’t like the Dylan. Never should have invited that guy to youth festival concert. Implied endorsement of previous Pope might leave doubt about core Catholic message and degrade 2000 year old branding campaign. Memo to fund raisers, ask multi-millionaire to donate something towards 650+ Catholic Hospitals in USA or better yet build his own like Danny Thomas.

Just because he’s Pope doesn’t mean he’s immune from Hell.

The ignorance in the article is actually superceded by the ignorance expressed in most of these responses! You regurgitate some opinions that the media feeds you. Now go a puchase some crap that the RS advertisers peddle to you and think about how cool and free thinking you are.

Pathetic!

This is the most poorly written article I’ve ever seen. So much misunderstood here. Rather than taking any time to understand the facts or context of this situation its just always easier to make uneducated comments about pedophiles and Nazis. Like you would not have pretended to join the Hilter Young to save your life if lived to Nazi Germany?

I like Bob Dylan. This pope is a false idol.

The Pope is obviously a jerk, or he knows that it wasn’t Clapton; Dylan is God!

DYLAN COVERS THAT I THINK FANS MIGHT ENJOY. SEVEN DAYS, WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW,THE MAN IN ME,DEAR LANDLORD JUST KIKE A WOMAN BY JOE COCKER. SEVEN DAYS BY ROB STONER (PATRIOTIC DUTY ALBUM.STONER IS FROM ROLLING THUNDER REVUE). DICKY BETTS DOES TANGLED UP IN BLUE.(STUDIO RECORDING) HOODOO DEVILS ALSO COVER TANGLED UP IN BLUE. EVERLY BROTHERS COVER ABANDONED LOVE. GEORGE THOROUGHGOOD DOES WANTED MAN. THESE ARE ALL VERY STRONG COVERS. IF YOU DONT CARE FOR THE SONGS IT IS STILL FUN TO HEAR THEM ONCE. ALSO HEART OF MINE BY NORA JONES. I BELIEVE IN YOU BY PHOEBE SNOW. ALSO THE IS A WEB SITE PERTAINING TO DYLAN COVERS (IT AINT ME BABE.COM)

Hey I aint the devil.Im just an overrated musician that potheads and smelly hippies worship.Hey Im overrated just like the greatful dead.I cant even listen to my music without being high.I actually cant stand hippies, especially that ones with dreads that smell.When i stand next to them i think there fleas are jumping from their head onto mine.
Its funny to see a large group of them together, its like watching
a bunch of cavemen, but cavemen smell better.Well I have to go now,
i have to write more music for people that are high-ons.

who cares about both these people.
2 people that put me to sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzz…zz

A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet.
He’ll put the priest in his pocket,
put the blade to the heat.
Take the motherless children off the street and place them at the feet of a harlot. Oh, Jokerman,
you know what he wants…Martin Luther.

Seriously the pope need to look in the mirror. He looks more devilish than anything else I’ve ever seen.

This smokes duck.

If John Lennon actually said that, he couldn’t separate real Christian thought from what he was seeing around him… LOVE the comment by Kate… yeh, I’ve heard the tale before as well… good tale…

The leader of a corrupt organization that has created countless gay baby rapers is talking bad about Bob Dylan… The irony makes my head spin.

I do not care what Pope thinks about Dylan, or about fish&chips or about bullfighting… Who really cares? I only care about what he can do for the Church and for the Humanity and how he can do it. In the other hand, I just prefer Dylan playing in Spain than in The Vatican. Come back over here, Bob! A couple more days in the European tour… Pleaseeeeee….!

“Furthermore, the pedophile priest scandal should render null and vapid almost all pronouncements of moral superiority from the Church hierarchy.”
I don’t really think this makes any sense. As best I understand it, the Pope wasn’t making a pronouncement of moral superiority, just offering how to make oneself better. I am not Catholic and I love Bob Dylan, but just because I have done something wrong doesn’t mean that I can never again tell anyone else that they are doing something wrong.

hmmm…Religious leadership denounces a Jewish visionary who commands a very faithful following and is called a prophet. The visionary minimizes his role, but his popularity increases nonetheless…I think I’ve heard this tale before.

Church is the reason that rock&roll ever happened, gospel lead to r&b, and eventually that turned into rock&roll. so the church can thank itself for creatin the devil

Dylan’s music is innovative and unique.At least music evolves and changes. The church has had little to no changes in the past 2000 years.

love and peace to all of you, amen
and the winner is…mister Zimmerman,

Pope Benedict has his opinions, Dylan has his. We re all allowed to comment….we all have our Gods, mine just happens to be a guy called Zimmerman…Praise be!…ha

Palesmato…come on man. You say the please dont bring up the sex scandals of the catholic church….why man?..you afraid you maybe mentioned in them?…This whole Pope/Dylan issue is farcical..

I thought seeing يَقوم بِعُلاقة جنْسِيَّه، يَضاجِع was interesting so I called up Google’s translator and it translated as “The sexual relationship, adolescent”. Now what that has to do wiith Dylan and the Pope…

I very much enjoyed the article, both as a denounced roman catholic and a Dylan fan. I still feel awkward that people actually pay heed to what this old bag of sand is saying. Benedict should be more worried about the genocide he’s inflicting on third world countries by banning condoms and other contraceptives. He’s a half-crazed conservative self-appointed demi-god and I wish to have nothing to do with the man, nor with any of his active followers. I don’t have to worry to much about what I’m saying here, because I will probably go to hell anyway (if there is one, of course); I’m gay, I actually use condoms and -yes, I admit it- I listen to Bob Dylan! I don’t follow him, mind you, I do not follow any “false prophets”, but I sure like their music.

another Nazi, another Jew…so what’s new?

Oh, and P.S. I’d like to see world leaders put more effort into solving world problems than criticizing people for their freedom of speech.

By the way, just to make it clear, Lennon’s actual quote about Christianity was:

“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.”

no one needs a pope to think for them

hm. so that places Simon and the Pope both in the anti-Dylan camp. Congrats. Unfortunately, I think Simon’s view has a greater impact on the American psyche.
Long live Dylan!

يَقوم بِعُلاقة جنْسِيَّه، يَضاجِع

I think the pope needs to find better things to worry about than Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is a poetic genuis and I enjoy his new album. Why doesnt the pope worry about all the poor starving people in the world and reach out to help them and do something to help. Bottom line dont worry about Rock music its harmless and it often has great poetic lyrics if you are open minded and give it a chance

I think it would be foolish of the Pope to accept popular music in any way as it would undermine everything the Church teaches,but there’s far worse out there than Bob.

As Bob sang on Modern Times:
Aint talkin, Just walkin………..

Hasn’t the Pope seen Bob Dylan’s 1965 documentary “Don’t Look Back”? There’s a scene there that sums all this up, where a reporter asks Bob who does he think he is. Bob simply shrugs it off and says, “I’m just a guitar player.”
’nuff said.

First, I agree that this Pope is going overboard and reaching for straws, but making the same jokes over and over about the Catholic faith is idiotic.

I’m not a Catholic, but if a person were to insult Atheists/Muslims/Jews in the same way they’d be in deep shit. There’s no need to continue with the same tired jokes because the REAL joke is that this Pope doesn’t have enough of a brain to listen to Time Out Of Mind.

I love gregorian chants, and yet I especially love Bob Dylan, his music and lyrics . Pope John II was a wise and holy man with a beautiful soul, unfortunately Pope Benedict is a different person. While he’s entitled to his opinion about liturgical music, he just comes across as being small-minded.

“nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant, pleadin’ immaculate conception” - Bruce Springsteen

Bob is the devil. Open your eyes people!

John Lennon never said “I’m bigger than Jesus”.

Dumbest, most poorly written article I’ve seen yet from RS.

can i get some of that kool-aid from tony?

You can not blame pope because he was in Hitler Youth (he was very young), but you can blame him because he is old fool now.

I’m guessing none of you read the book this quote comes from, so it’s wrong to judge Pope Benedict disliking Bob Dylan or modern music in general. He only lists Dylan among atists who appeared at the event. By “wrong kind of prophet” he could have taken exception to Dylan songs used at Mass or or Dylan’s influence and thought leadership.

It’s a matter of personal preference. PJII deftly used pop culture to preach his message. Pope Benedict prefers to link the modern Church approaches to its timeless, eternal past. Both means can work.

What I don’t get is that Pope Benny criticised the actions of his predecessor.

What happened to papal infalibilty? Or can review that once he pops his clogs?

Another timely eyeopener.
Rome, and the religious right, have this thing about outlaw jewish apocalyptic prophets.
Goes way back.

I thought they got it wrong when they elected this pope. Not just because of the war He just dont have it when he got it right about Islam he backed off but to put down JP 2 over Bob Dylan is lame

après W.Gutry,Dylan a su redorer le blason de la musique et montrer la voie mélodique aux multiples générations d’artistes tout en restant humble et innovateur(de Hurricane,mr Tambourine à Sarah et j’en passe).
Merci monsieur Robert Zimmerman.

Poor article. The Pope’s remarks were a bit odd and I would prefer religious leaders use their pulpits to build faith, not take shots at rock stars and writers. That being said, this article is just meant to take cheap shots without any sort of context. I cancelled my subscription to this rag long ago. Thanks for reminding me why I did so.

Religion is division. Sure, some great things have come out of religion, but there were also wars and active discrimination.

You, sir, are an apologist idiotica. Benedict is not making known his musical tastes when he says Dylan is a false prophet - he’s making a moral statement on the content of Dylan’s lyrics and on his influence. And it is relevent to mention the Nazi youth thing. Ever hear of Natural Law (i.e. God’s Law)? It’s recognized by the Church especially as a valid institution that is to be obeyed above the laws of man.

Furthermore, the pedophile priest scandal should render null and vapid almost all pronouncements of moral superiority from the Church hierarchy.

I am a Christian, and the Catholic big-wigs, apologists, and pedophiles are a plague on Christianity’s image. The Catholic religion itself is still valid, but the men who have ran it for so long should be shamed into silence.

Does the Pope have nothing better to do? I’m sure Bob is cracking up at this one.

Pretty funny…the Pope taking a swipe at God

They wanted to know
What exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid

What an idiot.

ratzinger? suspiciously close to zatzinger!

Well, even Dylan is not the kind of saint that a Pope will praise, i belive that Ratzinger has come back to the point where inquisition was the biggest mafia association in my country. God help us all.

You would think the Pope could do something more profound than digging up old bones about past events. They say he is the vicar of Christ, is he?

Bob terrifies them because there’s something true and unsettling behind what he says. Ratzinger is an reactionary and authoritarian type who can’t stand anyway signaling that the world is not what he says.

Usually I agree with RS but this seems like a like a desperate attempt to knock a good mand just because he isn’t “hip”

What’s a Pope?

Just to make things clear, Pope Benedict was a close advisor to Pope John Paul II. In 1997, there was a concert at the end of World Eucharist day. Bob Dylan performed. Fast forward to 2007. Pope Benedict publishes a book. There is a very brief explanation by Pope Benedict in the book that he disagreed with the selection of Bob Dylan to perform at the event. End of story. It seems to me that there is a group of people who want to bash the Catholic Church. Sure the sex scandals in the church are horrible and we are all outraged by it. But for Rolling Stone to print hateful speech about a religious leader is nothing more than bigotry.

Ratzinger?
Don’t sound like a pope to me.
And who would negatively judge bob; sicking the fury of hell unto him?
Long live bob and neil and all.. may they have a good afterlife

There’s definitely many many many people doing more evil than Bob Dylan. I understand that all BXVI is saying is that people shouldn’t view Dylan as a prophet (does he ever actually knock Dylan? The article makes it seem so but never gives a quote where the pope does say something bad about him), but it seems pretty random.

its funny that you cant be anti-semitic but you can bash freely on catholics

I’m guessing the Poop doesn’t really like anybody who isn’t nuts deep in a 10 year old boy.

this article brings up good points (except for the “former hitler youth enrollee” part.) pope benedict is no pope john paul, we can all agree on that. i am catholic and i dont appreciate him either. but honestly, all u jews have to stop with the alter boy talk. thats all very outdated, exagerated and not funny at all.

benedict should appreciate bob dylan and what he has contributed to the world. but all of u who are making these imature jokes and slashes on a certain faith, fuck off. no matter what faith u are, even if youre athiest, everyone should recognize that the world revolves around love.

I think that Herr Ratzinger should do one of the following things: either wear higher heels or lower the hem-line of his dress.

“Should we launch a campaign against Bob Dylan critics now?” -Palesmato

Absolutely NOT! Go ahead, criticize Dylan and/or his music. But you are an idiot if you say Dylan sucks, just like you’re an idiot if you say Shakespeare or Shelley suck.

I’m very young (17 years old), American, impressionable, and have been obsessed with Dylan’s 1960s material for about 2 or 3 years.

Given those variable, Dylan is God. I guess it’s the same way Dylan felt about Woody Guthrie…

Pope sucks. Christianity sucks. Religion sucks. Dylan prevails. Rock and roll prevails. Poetry prevails. Art prevails. The end.

Everyone knows the Catholic “religion” is more or less a skewed farce of Christianity and you shouldn’t put too much stock in what the Pope, a “false idol” that of in himself has to say about one of the greatest rock and roll artists of all time.

Are you kidding me?

The same group who uses their religion as an undercover whorehouse for altar boys?

Ok RS, thank you for the billionth reminder that Pope Benedict was in Hitler Youth. Nevermind that so was just about every other German or Austrian child of his generation. Nevermind that, as a young child, the future Pope would have had no say in the matter. Bash him for not being John Paul II all you want. Very few religous leaders of any faith are that kind of man, and we could use more of them. But don’t just parrot the same old lines if you want to criticize Pope Benedict. Look hard enough and I’m sure you’ll find better ammo.

It might be the devil or it might be the Lord, be you gotta serve somebody

F*** the pope

This is a feather in Dylan’s hat! Hell who else could be called a prophet lately? At least the Catholic Church realizes the power this man has, if only about 40 years too late!

First of all Pope Benedict probably does not care about Bob Dylan. This is one paragraph from one letter about something 10 years ago. I agree that while Bob Dylan is an amazing songwriter and musician, his music has no place in the liturgy which is basically all the Pope is saying. I love how people blow shit like this so out of proportion and that they have no idea what really is going on.

well the pope needs to stop worrying about an amazing man/ songwriter/ voice of a generation/ legend and worry about his own organization.

cos he’s got a lot of the “wrong kind of priests” out there he should be dealing with. feeling up kids and all.

leave tamborine man alone.

amen? amen.

I’m Catholic and I find Pope Benedict to be an embarrassment to our church these days. Slamming Bob? C’mon. I miss Pope John Paul every day. I disagreed with many of his policy positions yet trusted him completely, and yeah, he was hip and ahead of the time. Pope Benedict is a transitory figure I think. Here’s to the transition.

i thought this was launching a campaign against Bob Dylan critics…. damn you Palesmato and Pope bene too.

why does Bob Dylan have to dress like the creepy old man from Poltergeist II?

as sinead said “fight the real enemies”, this nazi pope fucker is the real pig. Bob is God!!!

Pope Benedict never voluntarily enrolled as part of Hitler’s youth. During World War II, it was law that all German youths be enrolled. Nevertheless, Joseph Ratzinger was never an active participant of Hitler’s Youth and was a lifetime opponent of Nazism. I suggest that those critics of the Pope first look up the hard cold facts before saying ignorant and senseless statements.

Furthermore, please do not bring up the issue of the sex scandals in the Church. That has nothing to do with the Pope’s musical tastes.

Finally, Pope Benedict is entitled to his musical tastes. Maybe the Pope is incorrect on disliking Bob Dylan’s music, but he is entitled to his opinion.

I did not realize that it is now politically incorrect to dislike Bob Dylan’s music. Should we launch a campaign against Bob Dylan critics now?

does anyone still pay attention to the papacy?

I asked Timothy Leary; he couldn’t help me either.

benedict’s probably still bitter that dylan went electric in ‘65.

Doesn’t the Pope have bigger things to worry about (world poverty, pedophile priests)?

The pope smokes dope.
The pope smokes dope.

I am gay.

It’s Pope Benedict, sillies

hey doesn’t that guy in the free IQ test ad on the right kinda look like Pete Townshend in another 10 years?

i’m bigger than springsteen

Fuck Bob Dylan…overrated hack…

Great point about Jess Simpson, but you should’ve included all the pop stars from the late 90s who claimed to be religious yet acted otherwise.

Doesn’t the pope have anything else better to do?

Dylan has made a career of exposing false hearted prophets. Ratzinger clearly feels the heat.