President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in Rome, Italy, on Saturday to join global leaders at the inaugural mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and the new head of the Roman Catholic Church,Daily Trust reports.
The installation ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, May 18.
Upon his arrival at Mario De Bernardo Military Airport at 6 p.m. local time, President Tinubu was welcomed by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, along with representatives from Vatican City and the Nigerian Embassy.
President Tinubu is attending the event in response to a formal invitation from the new Pope, conveyed through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State. The invitation emphasized the significance of the President’s presence “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and a world beset by numerous tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo XIV, in his message, noted his personal connection to Nigeria, saying, “Your great nation is particularly dear to me, as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
The President is accompanied by a high-ranking Nigerian Catholic delegation, including Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and Archbishop of Owerri; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos; and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese.
