{"id":160407,"date":"2025-04-25T19:24:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T18:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome"},"modified":"2025-04-28T18:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T17:38:07","slug":"akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","title":{"rendered":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, Pope Francis, on Saturday, April 26.<\/p>\n<p>Senate President Godswill Akpabio is at the head of the five-member delegation.<\/p>\n<p>Other members of the delegation are the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu; Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; and Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama.<\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis, the revered head of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Monday, April 21, 2025, at 88, just a day after appearing for Easter Sunday celebrations at the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>The delegation will formally deliver a letter conveying President Tinubu\u2019s sympathy and condolences on Pope Francis\u2019 passing to the Acting Head of the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, President Tinubu joined the Catholic faithful and Christians worldwide to mourn the death of Pope Francis, who he described as \u201ca humble servant of God, a tireless champion of the poor, and a guiding light for millions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the condolence message, President Tinubu remarked that Pope Francis\u2019s death, coming just after the celebration of Christ\u2019s resurrection, is a sacred return to his Maker at a time of renewed hope for Christians.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, Pope Francis, on Saturday, April 26. Senate President Godswill Akpabio is at the head of the five-member delegation. Other members of the delegation are the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":160406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[621,254],"class_list":["post-160407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-akpabio","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"559\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Akpabio\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\",\"name\":\"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":559,\"caption\":\"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome - Nigeria","description":"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome","og_description":"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":559,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome","datePublished":"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg","keywords":["Akpabio","Nigeria"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome","name":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-25T18:24:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-28T17:38:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a high-powered delegation to the Vatican City to attend the burial of His Holiness, ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745596852.947983.jpg","width":1000,"height":559,"caption":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/akpabio-leads-nigerias-delegation-to-pope-francis-funeral-in-rome#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Akpabio leads Nigeria\u2019s delegation to Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Rome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}