Pope Francis and Vatican Academy for Life President Speak Out on Alfie Evans Case in UK and Vincent Lambert Case in France

Diane Montagna : Apr 16, 2018
LifeSiteNews.com

"Let us pray that every sick person is always respected in his dignity and cared for in a way that is suitable to his condition, with the unanimous support of family members, doctors and other medical professionals, with great respect for life..." -Pope Francis

(Rome)— [LifeSiteNews.com] Pope Francis and the president of the Vatican's Academy for Life spoke out on Sunday about Alfie Evans, as the two-year-old's parents battle to save their son's life in the face of hospital and state rulings to turn off his life support. (Photo: Alfie Evans/Alfie's Army-Facebook/via LifeSiteNews)

Speaking to pilgrims gathered [Sunday] in St. Peter's Square after the Regina Caeli (a traditional Marian prayer prayed during the Easter Season), Pope Francis said:

I entrust to your prayers persons like Vincent Lambert in France, and little Alfie Evans in England, and [persons] in various countries who live, sometimes for a long time, in a state of serious infirmity, and are medically assisted for their basic needs. They are delicate, very painful and complex situations. Let us pray that every sick person is always respected in his dignity and cared for in a way that is suitable to his condition, with the unanimous support of family members, doctors and other medical professionals, with great respect for life.

Vincent Lambert is a 42-year-old Frenchman who also faces a hospital and state imposed death sentence (by starvation), against his parents' will. In 2008 Vincent suffered severe head injuries in an automobile accident that left him a quadriplegic. But doctors who have reviewed his case say he is not sick, nor in a coma, breathes unassisted, and his internal organs function normally.

Lambert has been called the French "Terri Schiavo."

"Alfie must be loved"

Earlier on Sunday, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, also issued a statement in support of little Alfie. He said:

The story of little Alfie Evans of Liverpool, of his young parents Tom and Kate, and of all the people who over these long and painful months of illness have worked in different ways for the good of this child, in recent days has unfolded in all its terrible tragic effects.

I pray for him and for the people involved, and I invite everyone to join in this intention before the Lord of life...

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