Former Italian President and senator Giorgio Napolitano speaks following a talk with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Italy, April 13, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, a onetime communist who helped to steer his country through a debt crisis in 2011, died on Friday aged 98. Condolences poured in from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office, other politicians, the Vatican and beyond. Napolitano became president in 2006 and was elected for an unprecedented second seven-year term in 2013. Reporting by Angelo Amante; writing by Keith Weir and Angelo Amante Editing by Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Giorgio Napolitano, Sergio Mattarella, Tony Gentile, Giorgia, Pope Francis, Napolitano's, Clio Bittoni, Napolitano, Pope Benedict XVI, Francis, Mario Monti, Silvio Berlusconi, Enrico Letta, Angelo Amante, Keith Weir, Gareth Jones Organizations: Italian, REUTERS, Rights, European Commission, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy, Italian