David Willey, who worked as a BBC foreign correspondent for more than half a century, has died aged 93. He reported from Algeria, Vietnam and China, but is best known for his time in Rome as the BBC’s Vatican correspondent, where he covered the papacies of five popes. Willey, widely regarded as one of the
David Willey, who worked as a BBC foreign correspondent for more than half a century, has died aged 93.
He reported from Algeria, Vietnam and China, but is best known for his time in Rome as the BBC’s Vatican correspondent, where he covered the papacies of five popes.
Willey, widely regarded as one of the most experienced journalistic voices in the Vatican, wrote a book about Pope Francis and was awarded an OBE for services to broadcast journalism.
He was still working well into his nineties; Last year, after the death of Pope Francis, Willey reflected on how the Vatican had changed under the late pontiff.
“He was an incredible authority in the Vatican, reporting and traveling with five Popes, and he was very kind, providing me with information and encouragement when I started in Rome in 2019,” wrote BBC correspondent and presenter Mark Lowen.
News producer Gillian Hazell, who worked closely with Willey in Rome, said he was “a valued friend and colleague with a mischievous sense of humor and endless fascinating stories from his assignments around the world.”
Willey began his career as a trainee at the Reuters news agency and covered the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The document, which established the European Economic Community, formed the basis of what is today the European Union.
“In fact, I was there, in the enormous hall decorated with frescoes depicting scenes of ancient Roman battles, when the six frock-coated founders of the Europe of Six put their signatures on the Treaty,” he wrote at the 50th anniversary in 2007.
“In the room were crowded members of parliament, city authorities and, I seem to remember, a single Vatican cardinal with a red hat.”
Willey then worked as a freelancer in Algeria, before becoming the BBC’s East Africa correspondent in 1964.
He later reported from Asia, including on the Vietnam War, and from China after the communist revolution.
But David Willey will be best remembered for his decades of work in Rome.
He became an authority on the papacies of five popes. One of his most notable assignments was the attempted assassination of John Paul II in 1981.
Last year, Willey met his fifth Pope: the newly elected Pope Leo.
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