By Kolawole Ojebisi
About nine years ago, while still languishing in relative obscurity, Robert Prevost planned itinerary took him to Nigeria as part of his commitment to the Catholic Church.
It was in September 2016, and Prevost had not yet become one of the over two hundreds Catholic cardinals across the world, let alone contemplate his rise to papacy fame.
Prevost, who became a cardinal in 2023, was Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, when he touched down on Nigerian soil in Abuja.
The American Bishop visited Africa’s most populous nation boasting 35million Catholic faithful as as part of his duties as an Augustinian leader, engaging with members of the order and the broader Catholic community.
A photo from then Bishop Prevost’s official X account corroborated this claim.
The photo showed him posing with Catholic leaders — some believed to have accompanied him from abroad, while others were Nigerian clergy dressed in black and white cassocks.
“For the first time, General Chapter of the Order of St. Augustine on the African continent — Abuja, Nigeria,” the post which was translated from Spanish to English, reads.
Now known as Pope Leo XIV, after his election on Thursday by a conclave of cardinals, the pope is a prominent member of the Order of St. Augustine, a Catholic religious order with a history dating back to the 13th century.
The Order emphasises community life, interior search for God, and service to others, following in the footsteps of St. Augustine, who harped on unity of mind and heart for the glory of God.
Before he was made Bishop, Prevost served as Provincial of the Augustinian Province in Chicago from 1999-2001, and later served two terms as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001-2013.
Though Nigeria has legions of Catholic faithful, its shores is not reputed to be a stomping ground for a Pointiff.
This fact may be attributable to the ascetic lifestyle of the Pope who lives in cloistered seclusion behind the impregnable walls of the Vatican.
The last papal visit to Nigeria was by Pope John Paul II in 1998, for the beatification of Father Cyprian Tansi.
The late Pope had earlier visited the country in 1982 during the first leg of his 10th apostolic voyage on which he also visited Benin, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, limited his African trips to Kenya, Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has congratulated Leo on his election as the Bishop of Rome.
President Donald Trump has also felicitated Prevost, describing his election as Pope as an “honour” to the United States.
