Italian Activist Emma Bonino Dead At 78
Emma Bonino died Thursday September 11 at the age of 78. Her political party +Europa announced the death on Facebook.
No cause was given, though Bonino had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer in 2015, received the all-clear in 2023 and had been hospitalized for respiratory problems in 2024.
Pope Francis, who despite deep political differences with Bonino shared her concerns for migrant rights, paid her a surprise home visit during her 2024 recovery.
Bonino spent more than 50 years in Italian politics. She first rose to prominence in the 1970s as a leader of the Radical Party campaigns that legalized divorce and abortion in heavily Roman Catholic Italy, two fights the Vatican fiercely opposed and that she won anyway.
She later served as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Italy's Minister of International Trade and Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was fluent in Arabic and dedicated years of her life to Arab women's equality and global humanitarian causes.
She fell agonizingly short of becoming Italy's first female president. Even conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni, her ideological opposite, paid tribute Thursday, saying their differences "never prevented me from acknowledging her significance."
"Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedom," +Europa wrote.
