President Tinubu Arrives In Rome For Pope Leo XIV’s Installation

President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Rome, Italy, to attend the installation of Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.

Naijaonpoint reports that the Presidency confirmed Tinubu’s arrival in a post shared on the official Presidential X handle around 5:54 pm on Saturday.

Tinubu’s visit follows an invitation from the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, who was selected by the Cardinals during the Conclave held 17 days after the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on April 21.

In a statement issued earlier this week, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, outlined that the President’s delegation would include senior Catholic leaders from Nigeria.

President Tinubu’s entourage for the event includes the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as well as Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos, and Catholic Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese.

According to Onanuga, the invitation was extended by Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, who expressed a personal connection to Nigeria. Pope Leo XIV noted, “Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”

Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will be formally installed as Pope on Sunday, May 18, in a ceremony at St. Peter’s Square.

As the first Pope from the United States, he will lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics through a period marked by numerous global tensions and conflicts.