President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Saturday for Rome, Italy, to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
According to a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the President is attending the ceremony at the invitation of the new Pontiff.
President Tinubu will join other global leaders and top Catholic clerics at the solemn mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the invitation sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of President Tinubu’s presence at what he described as “a moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and a world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Pope Leo added, “Your great nation is particularly dear to me, as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
Joining President Tinubu on the trip are the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Lucius Ugorji; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; and Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos.
Also on the delegation is Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will be formally installed on Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
He was elected by the Conclave of Cardinals 27 days after the passing of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21.
President Tinubu is expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday, May 20.
