In a statement on Saturday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said Tinubu’s visit is in honour of an invitation from the Vatican.

Onanuga said the invitation described the occasion as “a moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.”

He added that the president’s aircraft landed at the Mario De Bernardo military airport at 6pm local time, where he was received by Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, minister of state for foreign affairs, and officials from Vatican City and the Nigerian embassy.

He added that the invitation was conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, on behalf of Pope Leo XIV.

“Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s,” the new Pope was quoted as saying in the letter addressed to Tinubu.

The presidential entourage includes top figures in the Nigerian Catholic hierarchy, which include Lucius Ugorji, archbishop of Owerri and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria; Ignatius, archbishop of Abuja; and Alfred Martins, archbishop of Lagos.

Also on the delegation is Mathew Hassan Kukah, a bishop from the Sokoto diocese.

Onanuga noted that the installation mass will be held on Sunday, May 18.