Pope Benedict XVI Meets the Press

By Sylvia Poggioli

Published April 23, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

Recognizing the global impact of the media, Pope Benedict XVI becomes the first pontiff to hold a news conference. In a 15-minute gathering, he thanked the press for coverage of Pope John Paul II's death and the conclave which elected Benedict as John Paul's successor.

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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.

See stories by Sylvia Poggioli

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