Pope Francis prays for little Indi Gregory, an eight-month-old baby who suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease and who will be disconnected from the devices that keep her alive, after the refusal of English judges to transfer her to Italy. The Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital declared itself ready to welcome him.
“Pope Francis joins the family of little Indi Gregory, her father and her mother, prays for them and for her,” announced the director of the Holy See Press Room on Saturday, November 11. The Holy Father turns his thoughts to all the children who, in these same hours, throughout the world, live in pain or risk their lives because of illness and war.
The parents of little Indi, an eight-month-old terminally ill baby at the Queen’s Medical Center hospital in Nottingham, United Kingdom, refuse the termination of care decided by doctors. The British High Court on Wednesday, November 9, refused the transfer of the little girl to the Bambino Gesù, the pediatric hospital of the Holy See in Rome, which offered to welcome her. The baby suffers from a serious and rare mitochondrial disease.
This Saturday, Indi Gregory was transferred to the hospice identified for suspension of life support. “There, today we will take off the respirator and we will put an oxygen mask on her that she can keep on for a week,” the child’s father, Dean Gregory, told the Italian press, expressing hope that her baby survives until Monday. He said he was “devastated and angry” that “the United Kingdom sentenced a still-living little girl to death instead of accepting Italy’s offer to treat her at no cost to the British government.” Three days before this decision by the High Court, the Italian government had urgently granted Italian nationality to the baby, hoping to facilitate his transfer.
Previous calls from Pope Francis
The Pope has intervened several times in similar cases. On April 15, 2018, at the Regina Coeli, he entrusted to everyone’s prayer, Vincent Lambert, little Alfie Evans and other people who live “in a state of serious illness, medically assisted for primary needs”. “These are very painful and complex delicate situations. We pray that each sick person will always be respected in their dignity and cared for in a manner adapted to their condition, with the unanimous contribution of their family members, doctors and other health personnel, with the greatest respect for life”.
“I would like to strongly reiterate and confirm that the only master of life, from beginning to natural end, is God! And our duty is to do everything to save life. Let us reflect in silence and pray that the lives of all and in particular of our two brothers be respected,” the Pope further affirmed at the end of the general audience of April 18, 2018.
In 2017, François followed “with affection and emotion the story of little Charlie Gard”, who died at less than a year old, on July 28, 2017, in a London pediatric palliative care establishment.
This article is originally published on vaticannews.va
