President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Rome, Italy, to attend the installation of Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.
A statement by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said 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 after the plane touched down at 6 pm local time.
Tinubu is in Rome at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV, who was elected by the College of Cardinals during a conclave held 17 days after the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21.
In an earlier statement he issued on Thursday, Onanuga had announced that President Tinubu’s entourage to the event will include senior Catholic leaders in the country.
Apart from the 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; Alfred Martins of Lagos; and the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah will all be part of the President’s delegation.
According to Onanuga, Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent the invitation from Pope Leo XIV, who said the ceremony reflects “a moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts”.
He said that the Pope also expressed 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.”
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will be formally installed as Pope on Sunday, 18 May, at St Peter’s Square.
Pope Leo, who is the first Pope from the United States is to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
