President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja for Rome, the capital of Italy, on Saturday at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV.

Accompanied by top Catholic leaders, Tinubu will attend a mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President’s spokesman, said in a statement.

In the Papal invitation sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV underscored the need for Tinubu’s physical presence “at this moment of particular importance for the Catholic Church and the world afflicted by many tensions and conflicts.

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

President Tinubu’s entourage includes Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, Archbishop of Owerri and President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, and Alfred Martins of Lagos.

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

Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will be formally installed to the exalted office on Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

The Conclave of Cardinals elected him 27 days after his predecessor, Pope Francis, died on April 21.

President Tinubu will return to Abuja on Tuesday, May 20. (NAN)