Pope praises forgiveness, says pain must not give rise to violence

Pope Leo XIV on Monday praised the willingness to forgive after the mother of slain American journalist James Foley told a Vatican vigil about her process of healing following meetings with an Islamic State group fighter convicted in his beheading.

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Diane Foley was one of the featured speakers at a special Vatican vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the eve of a Holy Year event honoring all those who suffer.

James Foley was among a group of mostly Western journalists and aid workers taken hostage and ultimately killed by a group of British-born Islamic State group militants in Syria during the group’s reign of terror. The militants, known as “the Beatles” because of their accents, released a grisly video showing Foley’s beheading in 2014, saying it was retribution for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.