Pope helps to declare Alfie a citizen of Italy
ALFIE EVANS has been granted Italian citizenship after an intervention by the Pope.
The Italian foreign ministry made the move in the hope that the toddler can be transferred from hospital in Liverpool where his life support was due to be switched off. It said: “The Italian government hopes that being an Italian citizen will enable the immediate transfer of the child to Italy.”
Tom Evans, the boy’s father, wrote on Facebook: “Alfie belongs to Italy.”
Yesterday, about 200 people protested outside the Liverpool Alder Hey hospital after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in the case.
Last week, Mr Evans flew to Rome and met Pope Francis at the Vatican, appealing for “asylum” for Alfie. The Pope said the Vatican would ensure a “decisive diplomatic channel is opened up”. A children’s hospital in Rome, Bambino Gesù, has offered to treat the 23-month old.