President Bola Tinubu arrived in Rome, Italy, on Saturday to attend the solemn mass marking the official start of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and new head of the Roman Catholic Church
The installation mass is scheduled for Sunday, May 18.
Tinubu landed at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport at 6 p.m. local time, where he was received by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, alongside officials from the Vatican and the Nigerian Embassy.
The President is in Rome at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV, which was formally delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State. The invitation emphasized the significance of Tinubu’s presence “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo XIV also shared a personal connection to Nigeria, stating: “Your great nation is particularly dear to me, as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
Tinubu is accompanied by prominent Nigerian Catholic leaders, including Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri, who is also President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, and Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese is also part of the delegation.
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