President Bola Tinubu arrived in Rome on Saturday evening to attend the inauguration Mass for the newly elected head of the Roman Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
The ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, May 18, marks the formal commencement of the Pope’s leadership as the 267th Bishop of Rome.
This was disclosed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
President Tinubu’s aircraft landed at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport at 6 p.m. local time. He was welcomed by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, alongside representatives from the Vatican and officials from Nigeria’s diplomatic mission in Italy.
The Nigerian leader is attending at the request of Pope Leo XIV, whose invitation was personally delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State. The letter emphasized the significance of the occasion and the Pope’s desire for President Tinubu’s presence amid ongoing global unrest.
“My heart remains close to your great nation, where I once served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s,” Pope Leo XIV wrote in the invitation.
Accompanying the president are several senior members of the Catholic clergy in Nigeria, including the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Lucius Ugorji; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; and the Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Martins. Also part of the delegation is the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah.
