President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Rome, Italy, to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.
The Presidency announced President Bola Tinubu’s arrival in Rome via a post on its official X handle at about 5:54 p.m. on Saturday.
Tinubu is visiting Rome at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV, who was elected 17 days after the passing of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21.
In a statement released on Thursday, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed that Tinubu would attend the papal inauguration accompanied by senior Catholic figures from Nigeria.
Members of the delegation include Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos; and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese.
Onanuga also stated that the invitation was sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, who described the ceremony as “a moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and for a world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, is the first American to be elected Pope. He will be formally installed on Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter’s Square, where he will assume leadership of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
He also expressed a personal connection to Nigeria, recalling his service at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s, and described the country as “particularly dear” to him.
