Pope meets Alfie Evans' Dad
Source: Vatican Media/Liverpool Echo
Pope Francis met with Tom Evans, the father of seriously ill British toddler Alfie Evans, in the Vatican today.
Afterwards the Holy Father renewed his appeal for the respect of the lives of Alfie, and Vincent Laurent, a French hospital patient. He said: "the only author of life, from its beginning to its natural end, is God."
Speaking during the General Audience today, the Pope said he wanted to highlight their plights and remind us that "it is our duty to do all that is possible to safeguard life."
"Let us gather in silence and pray so that the lives of all persons, especially of these two brothers of ours, are respected" he said.
Pope Francis had asked for prayers for Vincent Laurent, a severely brain-damaged man in France, and for Alfie Evans, a British infant with an undiagnosed degenerative disease, during his Regina Coeli address on Sunday. Both patients are on life support and their families are fighting legal battles to ensure they continue to receive necessary basic medical care - rather than have their life-support systems switched off.
During that appeal Francis asked that everyone pray for "people, such as Vincent Lambert in France, little Alfie Evans in England, and others in different countries, who have been living, sometimes for a long time, in a condition of serious infirmity, and are medically assisted for their basic needs."
These "delicate situations," he said, are "very painful and complex. Let us pray that every sick person may always be respected in their dignity and cared for in an appropriate way for their condition, with the unanimous contribution of family members, doctors and other health-care workers, and with great respect for life."
Alfie's parents are asking that he can be taken to another hospital abroad for treatment. The Bamino Gesu children's hospital in Rome and other hospitals, have offered to take him, but the British medical team are refusing to allow him to leave.
See a report and video in today's Liverpool Echo: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/alfie-evanss-dad-meets-pope-14544627