Eric Patrick
President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Rome, Italy, to join other world leaders at the solemn mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
Leo XIV is the 267th Bishop of Rome and the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The installation mass is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 18.
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 this evening.
The President is in Rome to honour the new Pope’s invitation conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
READ ALSO: Tinubu to Attend Pope Leo XIV’s Inauguration in Rome Sunday
The invitation highlighted the necessity of President Tinubu’s attendance, emphasising its significance during this critical time for both the Catholic Church and a world grappling with numerous tensions and conflicts.
Pope Leo XIV’s invitation partly read, “Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
Tinubu’s entourage includes notable figures such as Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, along with Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja and ǰArchbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos, and the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah.
