He provided the commentary for the American television viewers of the Christmas Midnight Mass from St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

He had led the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for 23 years, from 1984 to June 2007, when he was appointed grand master, and had been a consultor or member of many curial departments.

[4] He later attended St. Joseph's College, where he was elected student-body president in 1956 and obtained a Bachelor's degree summa cum laude in history in 1957.

"[6] On April 5, 1984, Foley was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and Titular Archbishop of Neapolis in Proconsulari by Pope John Paul II.

He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 8 from Cardinal Krol, with Bishops Martin Nicholas Lohmuller and Thomas Welsh serving as co-consecrators.

[13][14] The two days of funeral rites began on December 15 with the reception of the body at St Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, from which Foley was ordained just shy of a half-century earlier.

The daylong viewing in St Martin's Chapel ended with Mass celebrated by the senior auxiliary of Philadelphia, Bishop Daniel Thomas, who was a close friend.

In keeping with preferences expressed by Cardinal Foley during his final weeks, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, his successor as head of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, celebrated the liturgy.

During his tenure, the archbishop once sparked outrage in the homosexual community by describing the AIDS pandemic as a "natural sanction for certain types of activities.

"[16] Upon the death of John Paul II on April 2, 2005, Foley and all major Vatican officials, in accord with custom, automatically lost their positions during the sede vacante.