Pope Francis Prays for Little Alfie Evans who is to be Removed from Life Support despite Parents Pleas

Vatican News reported that Pope Francis prayed for British baby Alfie Evans and family. This was conveyed in a Tweet posted to his official @Pontifex account on Wednesday. Alfie Evans' parents’ legal battle to keep him alive on life support in hope of further treatment has been rejected by rulers. Alfie is a 23-month old English baby who is in a “semi-vegetative state” in a Liverpool hospital. Alfie has a rare degenerative neurological condition, but the condition has not been definitively proven. The Tweet from the Holy Father said,

  “It is my sincere hope that everything necessary may be done in order to continue compassionately accompanying little Alfie Evans, and that the deep suffering of his parents may be heard.” 

Pope Francis said he is “praying for Alfie, for his family and for all who are involved.” Alfie has been on life support at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital since December 2016.  Doctors at Alder Hey have voiced their opinion that it was in Alfie’s best interests to stop “mechanical ventilation”. Alfie’s parents, Kate James and Tom Evans, fought for the right to keep him alive, taking their case to the courts. An English High Court ruled on March 6th that he should only receive palliative care. The Supreme Court upheld that decision, and the European Court of Human Rights refused to examine the case. Life support is probably scheduled to be removed soon. The courts have also rejected the request of his parents to move him to another hospital. Two other English babies, Charlie Gard and Isaiah Haastrup, died after their life support was removed on 28 July 2017 and 7 March 2018, respectively. People around the world have come out in support of Alfie’s cause through prayer, petitions, and demonstrations. Alfie’s parents had pleaded with the Pope to help. With his Tweet,