Mariella Enoc, head of the
Vatican's Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, said she had gone
Monday to a Liverpool hospital where doctors are preparing to
pull the plug on terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans in order to
bring Pope Francis's "closeness" to his parents, who have been
battling against court orders to withdraw treatment.
"I spoke to the parents, I brought them the closeness of Pope
Francis, but also of the many parents who find themselves in
their situation," Enoc told ANSA.
"The parents are not resigned, they are doing their utmost to
slow the start of the procedure (of pulling the plug), but
nothing more can be done," Enoc said.
Alfie's parents on Friday made a fresh appeal to the European
Court of Human Rights after Britain's Supreme Court rejected a
plea to prevent doctors pulling the plug on him.
Last Monday Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano urged
his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, to allow Alfie, who is
suffering from an undiagnosed degenerative disease, to be
transferred to medical facilities in Rome.
Alfie's family is in a legal battle with Alder Hey, a
children's hospital that says it is best to withdraw ventilation
as his condition cannot be treated and has destroyed much of his
brain.
The boy's parents want to take him to Rome's Bambino Gesu'
children's hospital, which is owned by the Vatican.
Alfano asked for the parents' request to be granted to take
the boy to the hospital in the Italian capital, "medical
facilities of a very high level that accept him in on the base
of an agreement".
He noted, however, that "Alfie is a British citizen and Italy
respects the decisions made in the framework of British national
jurisdiction" and that "the British national healthcare system
and medical standards are among the highest in the world".
The Rome hospital has reportedly given the same prognosis but
would be willing to perform a tracheotomy.
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