At the invitation of Pope Leo XIV, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will embark on a trip from Abuja to Rome on Saturday, May 18, to witness the formal installation of the newly elected pontiff, the Presidency confirmed Thursday. Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, ascended to the papacy 27 days following the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21.
The conclave of Cardinals elected him as the 267th Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed in an official statement that Tinubu’s delegation will include prominent Nigerian Catholic leaders.
The president is scheduled to participate in a solemn mass inaugurating the new pontiff’s ministry, a pivotal moment for global Catholics amid what the Pope described as a world “afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”
Highlighting the significance of Tinubu’s attendance, Onanuga shared excerpts from the papal invitation penned by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in which Pope Leo XIV expressed a personal connection to Nigeria: “Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
The invitation stressed the president’s “physical presence at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world.”
The presidential entourage features Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, alongside senior clergy such as Archbishop Lucius Ugorji (President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference), Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos, and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese.
The inauguration ceremony will take place at Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 19, with President Tinubu expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday, May 20.
Onanuga reiterated the diplomatic and spiritual weight of the visit, underscoring Nigeria’s longstanding ties to the Holy See and the Pope’s prior engagement in the country.
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