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 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.

Widely regarded as one of the most experienced journalistic voices on the Vatican, Willey wrote a book on 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 on the Vatican, reporting and travelling with five Popes, and was so kind, giving me insight and encouragement when I started in Rome in 2019,” wrote Mark Lowen, BBC correspondent and presenter.

News producer Gillian Hazell, who worked closely with Willey in Rome, said he was “an esteemed friend and colleague with a mischievous sense of humour and endless fascinating stories from his assignments around the world.”

Willey started his career as a trainee for 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 for what is now the European Union.

“I was actually there in the huge room frescoed with scenes from ancient Roman battles, when the six frock-coated founders of the Europe of the Six appended their signatures to the Treaty,” he wrote on the 50th anniversary in 2007.

“Crowded into the room were members of parliament, city authorities and, I seem to remember, a single red-hatted cardinal from the Vatican.”

Willey then worked as a freelancer in Algeria, before becoming the BBC’s east Africa correspondent in 1964.

He then reported from Asia, including on the Vietnam War, and 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 assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981.

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

His article last year, reflecting on the modern changes within the Vatican, also saw Willey reflect on his own life within it: “I have suddenly realised with something of shock that I am already not only four years older than the late Pope Francis, but that my own life now extends through no fewer than eight successive papal reigns,” he wrote.

Willey wrote a book on the late pontiff – The promise of Francis: The man, the Pope, and the challenge of change – which he presented to Francis in 2016.

Willey recalled first reporting on the Vatican for Reuters in the 1950s.

“We depended upon a corrupt Vatican official to get the text of an important papal speech ahead of delivery,” he wrote.

“It was my job to take the bus down to the cafe opposite the main workers’ entrance to Vatican City at eight in the morning one Easter Sunday to surreptitiously pick up a document that he had smuggled out.”

David died of heart failure in Italy, the country he made his home.

Until the end, he remained incisive in his analysis, generous with his time, and an invaluable resource, for those reporters who came after him.