Claim: President Bola Tinubu meets the Secretary of State to the Vatican
Source: Bayo Onanuga, presidential aide
Verdict: False
Researched by FactSpace Nigeria
A post from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s Facebook account shows a photo of himself and a Cardinal, who the post claimed to be the Secretary of State to the Vatican, Pietro Parolin.
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The photo shared on May 17, 2025, comes with the caption that partly reads; “Upon my arrival in Rome ahead of the solemn Mass marking the beginning of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, I was warmly received by His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State to the Vatican and graciously hosted to dinner with other senior Vatican officials.”
A similar claim with photos was shared by the President’s new media aide on X and captioned, “Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State to The Vatican, hosted President Bola Tinubu to dinner some two hours after Tinubu arrived in Rome on Saturday.”
GhanaFact observed that the official X account of President Tinubu shared the same post but later deleted after it was flagged as misleading by Community Notes, but Bayo Onanuga’s post is still active on X.
However, some social media users, especially on X, challenged the correctness of the identity of the cardinal in the photo with President Tinubu.
This report will verify the identity of the official President Tinubu met.
Fact-Check
Using Google Reverse Image Search, GhanaFact identified the Cardinal in the photo with President Tinubu as Irish Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, who is the President of the Commission for Confidential Matters and President of the Committee for Investments
Portions of his profile on the Vatican website disclosed that he is: “Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and President of the Commission for Confidential Matters, President of the Committee for Investments.”
The profile of Pietro Parolin reads: “Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, was born in Schiavon, Italy, on 17 January 1955. At the age of 14, he entered the seminary of Vicenza and was ordained a priest on 27 April 1980.”
Our checks for recent images of the two Cardinals led to a video on April 21, 2025, when Cardinal Farrell announced the death of Pope Francis while flanked by Parolin as shared by Vatican News X page.
On April 29, Farrell again played a key role during the lying-in-state of Pope Francis when he sprinkled the deceased pontiff with holy water and purified his body with incense in a footage shared by Sky News.
According to some reports, Farrell was appointed interim head of the Vatican after the passing of Pope Francis, a role he occupied till the election of Pope Leo in May 2025.
Verdict
From the above, President Tinubu did not meet the Secretary of the Vatican State. Therefore, the claim is rated as False.
