Friday, September 11, 2026

Emma Bonino, Radical Italian Politician Who Stood Up to Vatican, Dies Aged 78

THE GUARDIAN: Militant feminist led campaigns to legalise abortion and divorce and went on to become foreign minister

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Bonino also served as a European commissioner. After a cancer diagnosis in 2015, she appeared in public wearing colourful headscarves. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters

Emma Bonino, the radical Italian politician who led campaigns to legalise abortion and divorce against the objections of the Vatican, has died aged 78.

“Today we lose not only our leader but also one of the most clear-sighted, courageous and free figures in the political history of our country,” the small party she founded, More Europe, said on Facebook on Friday.

Bonino served as a European commissioner and as foreign minister in Italy but was best known as a militant feminist dedicated to political and humanitarian causes. “Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedom: against clandestine abortion, world hunger, the stranglehold of party politics, female genital mutilation, punitive justice, genocide, and every form of authoritarianism,” her party said. » | Guardian staff and agencies in Rome | Friday, September 11, 2026

Emma Bonino: Italy's pro-Europe, pro-immigrant conscience: The former foreign minister, activist and politician has radical ideas for today’s Italy »

À LIRE AUSSI :

L’Italienne Emma Bonino, militante radicale féministe de longue date, est morte à l’âge de 78 ans : Présente dans de nombreux combats, du droit au divorce et à l’avortement, Emma Bonino était une ancienne membre du Parti radical italien et une figure respectée par toute la classe politique de la péninsule. »