I’m praying for baby Alfie, says Pope
THE Pope last night intervened in the case of a brain-damaged British toddler whose parents are fighting to keep him alive.
Pope Francis called for ‘everything necessary’ to be done to help 22-month-old Alfie Evans, who is in a ‘semi-vegetative state’.
Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, from Liverpool, have been at the centre of a high-profile legal battle to continue their son’s treatment.
But last week they suffered a major blow when they lost a last-ditch plea for the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to hear the case, having exhausted all their legal options in Britain. Pope Francis’s intervention will give them new hope of securing further treatment for Alfie.
The Pope wrote on Twitter: ‘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.
‘I am praying for Alfie, for his family and for all who are involved.’
Alfie has a ‘relentless and progressive’ neurological condition which has destroyed part of his brain, and he is unable to breathe or swallow on his own. He has been treated at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where specialists say his life support should be switched off.
In February a High Court judge ruled that he could be allowed to die, prompting Mr Evans to say his son had been ‘sentenced to the death penalty’. This judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal last month.
Alfie’s parents want to explore treatment at a hospital in Rome, hoping that specialists will be able to pinpoint what is wrong with their son. If that proves unsuccessful they hope he can be taken for treatment in Hamburg before being permitted to die at home.