President Bola Tinubu shares a warm handshake with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, on Sunday ahead of the solemn mass marking the official start of the Pope’s pontificate.

President Tinubu arrived in Rome earlier in the day to attend the installation mass of the 267th Bishop of Rome and new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, scheduled for Sunday, May 18.

In his invitation letter, Pope Leo XIV, who once served in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s, expressed his affection for Nigeria in his message to President Tinubu, calling it “a nation particularly dear to me.”

President Bola Tinubu shared a cordial exchange of greetings with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV.#PBATInRome pic.twitter.com/0f0oPQPpyd

— Office of the SA on Social Media to PBAT🇳🇬 (@Dolusegun16) May 18, 2025

According to Tinubu’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the Papal invitation underscored the need for President Tinubu’s physical presence “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”

The president’s entourage includes prominent Nigerian Catholic leaders such as Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, Archbishop Alfred Martins, and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.