President Bola Tinubu will travel to Rome, Italy, on Saturday to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
According to a statement issued Thursday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the travel is at the Vatican’s request, following the election of Pope Leo XIV by the Conclave of Cardinals.
The liturgy, slated for Sunday, May 18, at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, will mark the formal beginning of Pope Leo’s pontificate.
According to the presidency, in a letter given to Tinubu by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope hailed the Nigerian president’s presence as important “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts”.
The pontiff also recalled his time in Nigeria, saying, “Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
Tinubu will be accompanied by top Catholic leaders in Nigeria, including Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri, 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.
The delegation will also include the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Pope Leo XIV was elected 27 days after the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
Tinubu is scheduled to return to Abuja on Tuesday, May 20.
