Pope Praises Forgiveness as James Foley’s Mother Describes Healing at Vatican Vigil

Pope Leo XIV on Monday commended the willingness to forgive after Diane Foley, the mother of slain American journalist James Foley, described her process of healing following face-to-face encounters with a British-born Islamic State group militant convicted in her son's killing.

Speaking at a special vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the eve of a Holy Year event honoring those who suffer, Diane Foley recounted meeting Alexanda Kotey and said the encounters helped turn her sorrow away from anger and toward mercy. She described moments of shared grief and remorse and said she prayed for the grace not to become bitter after her son’s death.

“I staggered under the weight of that loss, unsure if I could go on,” she said from the basilica’s altar, at times choking up and clutching her hand to her chest. She said the meetings with Kotey “became moments of grace,” adding that the Holy Spirit allowed both of them “to listen to each other, to cry, to share our stories.”

Pope Leo XIV thanked Foley for her testimony and said the accounts heard at the service showed that pain must not give rise to violence and that violence is ultimately overcome by a love that can forgive. “What greater freedom can we hope to achieve than that which comes from forgiveness?” he told those gathered.

James Foley, a 40-year-old freelance journalist, was among a group of mostly Western journalists and aid workers taken hostage in Syria and later killed by Islamic State group militants who became known as the “Beatles” because of their British accents. In 2014 the militants released a video showing Foley’s beheading, which they said was retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.

Nearly four years after Foley’s killing, British-born militants Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh were captured by a Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed militia. The militant believed to be responsible for the actual killing, Mohammed Emwazi — widely referred to as “Jihadi John” — was killed in a U.S. drone strike. After legal negotiations, Kotey and Elsheikh were brought to the United States for prosecution in 2020 following a Justice Department decision to forgo the death penalty; Kotey was sentenced to life in prison.

In a 2024 book, Diane Foley detailed the face-to-face encounters she had with Kotey, recounting his expressions of remorse. At the vigil, she said that seeing him as a fellow sinner in need of mercy helped her on the path toward forgiveness.

The Vatican event drew testimony from people who have suffered in different ways, framing personal accounts of loss and injury within a message that suffering should not lead to further violence. The ceremony preceded a broader Holy Year observance intended to focus attention on compassion and reconciliation.

Diane Foley’s public testimony and the pope’s reflections come as part of a wider conversation in religious and public forums about responses to violent extremism, victimhood and the role of mercy in healing. Both she and Pope Leo XIV emphasized that forgiveness does not erase loss but can offer a form of freedom from cycles of anger and vengeance.

The vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica brought together survivors, family members and religious leaders to mark suffering and to call for spiritual and communal paths toward healing. Foley’s remarks, delivered in a high-profile papal setting, highlighted the personal consequences of international conflicts and the continuing reverberations of the Islamic State group’s campaign of violence in the Middle East and beyond.