{"id":24869,"date":"2025-04-25T19:58:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=24869"},"modified":"2025-04-25T19:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:58:17","slug":"tinubu-sends-akpabio-led-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-vatican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=24869","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu Sends Akpabio-Led Delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 Funeral in Vatican"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Mustapha Muhammad <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A high-level Nigerian delegation, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, will depart for Vatican City to attend the burial of Pope Francis on Saturday, April 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The delegation was appointed by President Bola Tinubu to represent Nigeria at the solemn event.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joining Akpabio are Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese; and Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama of Abuja Diocese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, passed away on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88. His death came just one day after he presided over Easter Sunday services at the Vatican.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Nigerian delegation is expected to present a condolence letter from President Tinubu to the Vatican\u2019s Acting Head, expressing Nigeria\u2019s grief over the Pope\u2019s demise.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week, Tinubu mourned the late pontiff, calling him \u201ca humble servant of God, a tireless champion of the poor, and a guiding light for millions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The President noted that Pope Francis\u2019 passing, shortly after Easter, symbolized \u201ca sacred return to his Maker at a time of renewed hope for Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mustapha Muhammad A high-level Nigerian delegation, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, will depart for Vatican City to attend the burial of Pope Francis on Saturday, April 26. The delegation was appointed by President Bola Tinubu to represent Nigeria at the solemn event. Joining Akpabio are Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese; and Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama of Abuja Diocese. Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, passed away on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88. His death came just one day after he presided over Easter Sunday services at the Vatican. The Nigerian delegation is expected to present a condolence letter from President Tinubu to the Vatican\u2019s Acting Head, expressing Nigeria\u2019s grief over the Pope\u2019s demise. Earlier this week, Tinubu mourned the late pontiff, calling him \u201ca humble servant of God, a tireless champion of the poor, and a guiding light for millions.\u201d The President noted that Pope Francis\u2019 passing, shortly after Easter, symbolized \u201ca sacred return to his Maker at a time of renewed hope for Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religious-personalities-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24871,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24869\/revisions\/24871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}