Tinubu meets Pope Leo XIV after inauguration mass in Rome
President Bola Tinubu shook hands with the newly installed Bishop of Rome and the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, on Sunday.
The US pontiff shook hands with several world leaders in St Peter’s Square after the inauguration mass on Sunday.
While shaking hands with the Pope, Tinubu had a brief conversation with him before moving away.
Other world leaders who shook hands with the Pope include US Vice President J.D Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.
Tinubu joined other world leaders in Rome, Italy on Sunday for the installation mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
At the installation mass, Pope Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor.
In front of dignitaries, including US Vice President Vance and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, he gave a homily calling for the Church to be a transformational force in a world of division and hatred.
Leo XIV was elected as the 267th pope on May 8 after a conclave vote of cardinals that lasted less than 24 hours.
Succeeding the charismatic but impulsive Francis, he took over a Church still battling the fallout of the clerical child abuse scandal, and trying to adapt to the modern world.
Leo acknowledged on Sunday some trepidation in his new role.
“I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy,” he said.
Ahead of the mass, Leo visited the tomb of Saint Peter — who in the Christian tradition was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and the first pope — in the basilica that bears his name.
He then received the pontifical emblems — the pallium, a strip of cloth worn around the neck, and the fisherman’s ring, which is forged anew for each pope and which he will wear on his finger until he dies, when it will be destroyed.
