President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in Rome, Italy to attend the solemn mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The installation mass will take place on Sunday, May 18.
President Tinubu was received at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and officials from Vatican City and the Nigerian Embassy.
The Nigeria leader is honouring the new Pope’s invitation, conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
A statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser Information and Strategy, notes that the Papal invitation underscored the need for President Tinubu’s physical presence.
The Pope said Nigeria is particularly dear to him having worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.
President Tinubu is accompanied by the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji.
Others are Archbishops Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, and Alfred Martins of Lagos as well as Mathew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.
