News • Created May 18, 2025 17:42

Fani-Kayode reacts to Tinubu’s handshake with Pope

Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, has reacted to the exchange of handshake between President Bola Tinubu and Pope Leo XiV. Daily Trust had reported how President Tinubu went to Rome to honour an invitation to the inauguration of the Pope. The invitation was conveyed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State. The […]

Fani-Kayode reacts to Tinubu’s handshake with Pope

20250518 171340

Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, has reacted to the exchange of handshake between President Bola Tinubu and Pope Leo XiV.

Daily Trust had reported how President Tinubu went to Rome to honour an invitation to the inauguration of the Pope.

The invitation was 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,” Pope Leo XIV said in the invitation.
On Sunday, the presidency released pictures and videos of Tinubu with the spiritual head of the Catholic Church.
In a post on X, Fani-Kayode wrote, “@officialABAT), who is a Muslim, in a warm handshake with the spiritual leader and father of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Leo X1V at his inaugural mass in Rome.

“”This is the first time in our country’s history that a sitting President or Head of State has attended the inaugural mass of a new Pope.

“Surely there can be no greater expression of religious tolerance, mutual respect and bridge-building than this. It is a warm gesture that we can all be proud of.”

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