Giorgio Napolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy's presidency and the first person to be elected twice to the mostly ceremonial post, died on Friday, the presidential palace said. He was 98.
A statement issued Friday night by the presidential palace confirmed Italian news reports of the death of Napolitano, who had been ailing in a Rome hospital for weeks.
In a condolence telegram to Napolitano's widow, Clio, Pope Francis said the late president "showed great gifts of intellect and sincere passion for Italian political life as well as strong interest for the fates of nations." A former U.S. ambassador to Italy, Richard Gardner, in comments to The Associated Press in 2006, when Napolitano was first elected to be head of state, called him "a true believer in democracy, a friend to the United States." As ambassador, Gardner had helped arrange secret meetings with Napolitano at a time when any public meeting would have been seen as embarrassing for Italian Communists as well as U.S. politicians.
In 1989, he went to the United States with the party secretary for the first-ever visit by a Italian Communist leader. During his long career, Napolitano also served as speaker of Parliament's lower Chamber of Deputies and for five years as a lawmaker in the European Parliament.
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