Sylvia Poggioli
Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.
Since joining NPR's foreign desk in 1982, Poggioli has traveled extensively for reporting assignments. These include going to Norway to cover the aftermath of the brutal attacks by a right-wing extremist; to Greece, Spain, and Portugal reporting on the eurozone crisis; and the Balkans where the last wanted war criminals have been arrested.
In addition, Poggioli has traveled to France, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, and Denmark to produce in-depth reports on immigration, racism, Islam, and the rise of the right in Europe.
She has also travelled with Pope Francis on several of his foreign trips, including visits to Cuba, the United States, Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
Throughout her career Poggioli has been recognized for her work with distinctions including the WBUR Foreign Correspondent Award, the Welles Hangen Award for Distinguished Journalism, a George Foster Peabody, National Women's Political Caucus/Radcliffe College Exceptional Merit Media Awards, the Edward Weintal Journalism Prize, and the Silver Angel Excellence in the Media Award. Poggioli was part of the NPR team that won the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for coverage of the war in Kosovo. In 2009, she received the Maria Grazia Cutulli Award for foreign reporting.
In 2000, Poggioli received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Brandeis University. In 2006, she received an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston together with Barack Obama.
Prior to this honor, Poggioli was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences "for her distinctive, cultivated and authoritative reports on 'ethnic cleansing' in Bosnia." In 1990, Poggioli spent an academic year at Harvard University as a research fellow at Harvard University's Center for Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government.
From 1971 to 1986, Poggioli served as an editor on the English-language desk for the Ansa News Agency in Italy. She worked at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. She was actively involved with women's film and theater groups.
The daughter of Italian anti-fascists who were forced to flee Italy under Mussolini, Poggioli was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in romance languages and literature. She later studied in Italy under a Fulbright Scholarship.
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The next pope will be elected at a conclave of 115 Roman Catholic cardinals scheduled to begin Monday. Piety and politics mark the days leading to the conclave, as cardinals consider who among them is a plausible candidate to follow John Paul II.
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The largest funeral in modern history takes place in Rome on a windy, cool morning. The funeral for Pope John Paul II begins nine days of mourning for one of the Catholic Church's longest-serving pontiffs. The homily was delivered by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, one of the pope's closest friends and advisers.
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Pope John Paul II was buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican Friday, after a three-hour funeral ceremony. A crowd of millions came to pay homage. The funeral commences nine days of mourning, after which the College of Cardinals will choose a successor.
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Officials plan services for Pope John Paul II, who died Saturday. The public will be able view the pontiff's body for the first time Monday. Rome and Vatican City expect more than 2 million mourners. The pope's funeral is set for Friday morning and his body is to be interred in the grotto at St. Peter's Basilica.
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The Vatican describes Pope John Paul II's condition as "very grave" after suffering heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection. Church officials deny reports the pontiff is in a coma and say he is "conscious, lucid and serene." He remains at his Vatican residence.
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Pope John Paul II is being fed through a nasal tube in order to boost his calorie intake, the Vatican says. The announcement followed the pontiff's unexpected brief appearance at his window over St. Peter's Square in Rome, during which he tried, but was unable, to speak.
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Pope John Paul II appeared in St. Peter's Square in celebration of Easter Sunday, but was unable to pronounce his Easter blessing to the world. Tens of thousands had gathered at the Vatican after illness forced the pope to miss Holy Week events for the first time since his election in 1978.
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announces he will start withdrawing the country's 3,000 troops from Iraq starting in September. Many read the move as a sign that his loyalty to the Bush administration is starting to erode his domestic political strength. Italy's announcement follows the decision of three other countries to pull troops out.
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The freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena, who was injured when U.S. troops opened fire on her vehicle in Iraq, says she feared U.S. forces would interfere with the operation to secure her release. An Italian intelligence agent died in the incident, which the White House called a horrific accident. Sylvia Poggioli reports.
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Italy's top officials attend a funeral in Rome for a security agent killed in Iraq Friday. He died trying to shield a freed Italian hostage, when U.S. forces fired on their vehicle. The United States says its troops gave warning signals, but the hostage contests the U.S. version of events. An investigation is under way.