Bob Dylan has spent more than six decades knocking on heaven's door. On Wednesday, the door opened at the Vatican, where the legendary musician had a private audience with Pope Leo.

Leo and Dylan, fellow travellers from the US Midwest, were seen meeting together in the pope's office at the ornate apostolic palace in photos shared by the Vatican's newspaper on social media.

The 71-year-old leader of the Catholic Church wore his customary white cassock. Dylan, the acoustic songbird who went electric in the 1960s, wore a black coat, black gloves and a black hooded sweatshirt.

Rev Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official and Jesuit known for building relationships between the Church and figures in the entertainment industry, said on Instagram that he had helped arrange the meeting.

"It was hard not to feel the emotion of being part of an encounter that had a real sense of history about it, with the feeling that, at every step through the Apostolic Palace, absolutely anything could happen!" he said.

The Vatican press office did not immediately comment on whether Leo and Dylan had discussed anything blowing in the wind.

The Vatican's newspaper said Leo had "received in private audience Mr. Robert Allen Zimmerman," using the name the musician was given at birth in Duluth, Minnesota.

Leo, originally from Chicago, is known as a Dylan fan. He quoted a 1963 anti-nuclear protest song from the singer, 'Go away you bomb', in a preface of a book released in July.