David Willey, esteemed BBC foreign correspondent, dies aged 93

David Willey, who served as a BBC foreign correspondent for more than half a century, has died at the age of 93.

He reported from Algeria, Vietnam and China, but was best known as the BBC’s Vatican correspondent, where he spent time in Rome and covered the papacies of five popes.

Widely regarded as one of the most experienced journalistic voices at the Vatican, Willey wrote a book about Pope Francis and was awarded an OBE for services to broadcast journalism.

He was still working in his nineties; Last year, following the death of Pope Francis, Willey was reflecting on how the Vatican had changed under the late pope.

“He was an incredible authority on the Vatican, reporting and traveling with five Popes, and was so kind, giving me insight and encouragement when I started in Rome in 2019,” BBC reporter and presenter Mark Lowen wrote.

Willey began his career as an intern at the Reuters news agency, covering the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The document establishing the European Economic Community formed the basis of the current European Union.

“I was in the huge room filled with frescoes of scenes from ancient Roman battles when the six frock-clad founders of the Europe of the Six signed the Treaty,” he wrote at the 50th anniversary in 2007.

“In the room were members of parliament, city officials and, as I recall, a single cardinal from the Vatican in a red hat.”

Willey later worked as a freelance writer in Algeria and in 1964 became the BBC’s east Africa correspondent.

He later reported from Asia, including the Vietnam War, and from China after the communist revolution.

But David Willey will be 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 during World War II in 1981. It was an assassination attempt on John Paul.

Last year, Willey met newly elected Pope Leo, his fifth pope.