Pope Leo XIV held a private meeting with Diane Foley, the mother of James W. Foley, Jim, a journalist kidnapped in northern Syria in 2012 and killed by ISIS two years later. Diane found the courage and motivation in October 2021 to meet Alexanda Kotey, one of her son's assassins, to speak with him and let him know who Jim truly was, that compassionate, daring young man interested in recounting the lives and truths of those he encountered. Diane's depiction of her beloved son, who was violently torn from her, will live on in the book 'American Mother', which she co-wrote with the famous storyteller Colum McCann. "As an American citizen", said Mrs. Foley, "I am deeply honored to have met Pope Leo and I will pray for him, because we need his guidance for peace and hope in the world".