Tribute to a Radical

In November 2024, a few months before he died, Pope Francis paid a visit to Emma Bonino, the Italian political leader and human rights activist, at her rooftop apartment in Rome near the Piazza Navona, where she had a view of St. Peter’s Basilica. He arrived with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. Photographs of the pope in his wheelchair and Emma in her wheelchair at the dining table on the roof outside her small apartment appeared on the front pages of Italian newspapers.

Emma died on September 11, at 78. She had spent half a century opposing the Catholic Church on abortion, divorce, and assisted dying. How did she come to have the pope as a close friend, a tribute from Italy’s right-wing prime minister, and a state funeral? The answer lies in all that Emma fought for.

Like Pope Francis, Emma Bonino was committed to the humane treatment of all. These included those held in Italy’s jails and prisons and migrants making the perilous journey in small boats across the Mediterranean. During her brief service as Italy’s foreign minister a decade before the pope’s visit to her apartment, Emma had seen to it that the Italian Navy rescued many of those who got into difficulty making the crossing. Francis called her “one of Italy’s greats.”

Emma had first become known in Italy in the 1970s for leading the struggle, in a country where the Catholic Church was politically powerful, to legalize medical abortion. As an unmarried recent college graduate, she had become pregnant and she had found a physician who performed clandestine abortions. She then started assisting other women who needed abortions. Emma also reported herself to the police for committing a crime and spent a few weeks in jail. Her efforts culminated in legalization of the procedure.

Early on, Emma had become active in a small political party, the Radical Party, which focused on the advancement of civil liberties. She served several terms in both houses of Parliament. Her political career in Italy also included heading the ministries of trade and European affairs and, from 2013 to 2014, the Foreign Ministry. She also served for a period as a member of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, with responsibility for such portfolios as fisheries, consumer affairs, and the EU Humanitarian Office.

I witnessed the strength of Emma’s dedication in the mid-1990s, when she was based in Brussels as a European commissioner. Knowing that I had a role in creating the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Emma enlisted me in a campaign she had launched to establish what would become the International Criminal Court, a permanent body with global reach. To build support for such a court, Emma organized conferences in different parts of the world to spread information about its role and to secure support for its creation. I recall going to Dakar, Senegal, to speak at one such event that she had persuaded President Abdou Diouf to host. It helped build African support for the formation of a court. By 1998, when the treaty to establish the court was drafted in Rome—Emma’s city—many governments were committed to its creation.

I also had the opportunity to work with Emma on other causes. In my work with the Open Society Foundations, we joined with the EU Humanitarian Office in treating inmates of greatly overcrowded Russian prisons for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Among other things, we were concerned that when inmates who acquired MDR-TB in prison were released, they would create a nationwide epidemic. Open Society supported an extensive campaign she launched to stop female genital mutilation in Africa. And, under the leadership of former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, we supported Turkey’s accession to the European Union while trying to use the prospect of accession to improve the protection of human rights. Emma later joined the Open Society board. When she died, Open Society Chair Alex Soros called her “one of the bravest and toughest people I’ve ever known.”

Although Emma took stands on many issues that were far outside the mainstream in Italy, her commitment to humanity earned her high regard from the general public and across the political spectrum. I got a small indication of this after she came by my Rome hotel one day to have breakfast with me. I had always enjoyed good service at that hotel, but after Emma’s visit, everyone went out of their way to be helpful to me every time I stayed at that hotel. It is also reflected in the statement issued by conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Emma’s death: “Our stories and sensibilities have been distant but this has never prevented me from recognizing her weight and role in our nation’s public life.”