Pope Francis told five new cardinals they should regard themselves as servants of the most vulnerable and not be misled by the traditional description as the ‘Princes of the Church’ © AFP Alberto PIZZOLI
Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said Pope Francis is thinking about visiting Nigeria.
But he said no date has been fixed for the visit.
As stated by Onaiyekan, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Nigeria during the recent Ad Limina visit of the CBCN to the Vatican.
“The only thing that the Pope said is that he is also thinking about it among his programme, but he cannot say when,” Onaiyekan told The Sun in an interview.
“Both the government and the Church will be responsible for the visit. Whenever a Pope visits a nation, he visits as a head of state, as well as head of the Catholic Church.
“So, both governments and Church are involved. In other words, a Pope will not visit a country if the government of that country does not invite him.
“We have not reached the stage of contacting the government yet. All the formalities will normally start after there is a tentative decision by the Pope to visit. There is no point telling government to be making moves if the Pope is not thinking yet of visiting.
“In any case, you know that first; we have a Pope’s ambassador here in Nigeria and a Nigerian ambassador in the Holy See. So, these are the people who will handle all those diplomatic aspects.”
Pope John Paul II, now Saint Pope John Paul II, was the first Pope to visit Nigeria, in February, 1982.
He paid another visit to the world’s most populated black nation in March, 1998.