President Bola Tinubu will travel to Rome, Italy, on Saturday to attend the inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
According to a statement on Thursday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the trip is at the invitation of the Vatican, following the election of Pope Leo XIV by the Conclave of Cardinals.
The mass, scheduled 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 sent to Tinubu by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope described the Nigerian president’s presence as significant “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo 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, who is also the 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.
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Also on the delegation is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected 27 days after the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
Tinubu is expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday, May 20.
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