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 new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
President Tinubu arrived a day before the installation mass, which will take place on Sunday at the Vatican City in Rome, Italy.
He was received at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and officials from Vatican City and Nigerian Embassy after the plane touched down at 6pm local time.
President Tinubu is in Rome to honour the new Pope’s invitation, conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
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.”
President Tinubu’s entourage includes the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji; Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Ignatius Kaigama; and Archbishop of Lagos Diocese, Alfred Martins.
Mathew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, is also in the President’s entourage.
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