President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in Rome, Italy, on Saturday to join other world leaders at a solemn mass marking the commencement of the pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The installation mass is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 18.
Upon arrival at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport, President Tinubu was received by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, along with officials from Vatican City and the Nigerian Embassy. His plane landed at 6:00 p.m. local time.
President Tinubu is in Rome at the invitation of the new Pope, conveyed through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
The Papal invitation highlighted the importance of the President’s physical presence “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo XIV further stated in the invitation: “Your great nation is particularly dear to me, as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
President Tinubu’s entourage includes Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos; and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese.
