President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in Rome, Italy, on Saturday to join other world leaders at the solemn mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The installation mass will take place on Sunday, 18 May.

President Tinubu was received at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport by Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, minister of state for foreign affairs, and officials from Vatican City and the Nigerian Embassy after the plane touched down at 6 p.m. local time.

President Tinubu is in Rome to honour the new pope’s invitation, which was conveyed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

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.”

“Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s,” Pope Leo XIV further said in the invitation.

President Tinubu’s entourage includes the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, and Alfred Martins of Lagos.

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, is also in the president’s entourage.

Bayo Onanuga

Special Adviser to the President

(Information and Strategy)