President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in Rome on Saturday, March 17, 2025, to attend the installation mass of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The installation ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, May 18. Tinubu was received at the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport by Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, along with Vatican and Nigerian embassy officials.
The visit follows a personal invitation from Pope Leo XIV, conveyed through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State. The invitation emphasized the importance of the event amid global tensions and expressed fondness for Nigeria, where the Pope once served in the Apostolic Nunciature in the 1980s.
President Tinubu is accompanied by several Nigerian Catholic leaders, including Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos, and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto.