President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja for Rome, Italy, on Saturday at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV.
In a statement he issued on Thursday, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced that President Tinubu will travel with senior Catholic leaders to attend a special Mass marking the beginning of Pope Leo XIV’s tenure as the 267th Bishop of Rome.
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”.
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.”
According to the statement, President Tinubu’s delegation will include 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.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will be formally installed as Pope on Sunday, 18 May, at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
Pope Leo, who is the first Pope from the United States was elected by the Cardinals during Conclave 17 days after the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on 21 April. He is to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
President Tinubu is expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday, 20 May, the statement noted.