Letter from Pope Francis read at slain journalist’s funeral Mass
August 25, 2014
James Foley, the American journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 and beheaded by forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in August 2014, was buried from a New Hampshire parish on August 24.
He had earlier called Foley's family to express his sympathy.
A message from Pope Francis, signed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was read at the funeral Mass.
“The Holy Father, deeply saddened by the death of James Wright Foley, asks you kindly to convey his personal condolences and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to James’ loved ones,” he wrote.
“He commends James to the loving mercy of God our Father, and joins all who mourn him in praying for an end to senseless violence and the dawn of reconciliation and peace among all the members of the human family,” he continued. “Upon the Foley family, and upon his friends and colleagues, he invokes the consolation and strength borne of our hope in Christ’s Resurrection.”
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Further information:
- Pope sends letter of condolence to family of journalist James Foley (Vatican Radio)
- Pope calls family of James Foley to offer prayers, sympathy (CWN, 8/21)
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