The parents of executed journalist James Foley have revealed they shared their grief with 'kind and dear' Pope Francis when he called them at home from The Vatican on Thursday.
Diane and John Foley said the pontiff word's were a huge comfort to them as they struggle to deal with the aftermath of their son's barbaric death, which was broadcast to the world by his ISIS captors on Tuesday.
While they did not divulge what they and Pope Francis spoke about during their telephone call, the Foleys said they were thankful he called as he deals with his own personal loss after his two small nephews and their mother died in a car crash in Argentina this week.
'Pope Francis was so dear because he is grieving himself having just lost three members of his family and his nephew is critically ill,' said Diane Foley during an appearance with her husband on the Today show.
'In the midst of his tremendous grief he took the time to call and our whole family was there and my brother-in-law spoke in Spanish to him and he was just so kind.'
Having called the family after the global revulsion sparked by the butchering of James Foley, the Pope's phone call left the staunchly Catholic Foleys 'deeply moved and grateful'.
'He offered us his personal prayer and we felt very comforted and supported in that regard,' said John Foley about his talk with Pope Francis. The Foley's took the phone call around 3pm on Thursday at home in New Hampshire and spoke through a translator for around 20 minutes.
'He was very compassionate, very loving,' said the family priest Father Marc Montminy, of St. Michael's Church in Exeter, New Hampshire.
The Foleys have been in mourning since Tuesday, when a video was posted online showing the gruesome beheading of their son by affiliates of terrorist-group ISIS. James Foley had been missing for two years, after he was kidnapped while reporting in Syria.
On Wednesday, his grieving parents gave a press conference outside their Rochester, New Hampshire home, where a yellow ribbon was hung on the front door.
'We are very proud of Jim. He was a courageous, fearless journalist. The best of America,' Diane Foley said. 'He was driven by the (Syrian) people's deep desire for freedom and their suffering.'
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