Pope Francis prays for infant Indi Gregory as life support set to be removed in UK

Gregory’s parents repeatedly appealed in U.K. courts to be able to take her to Rome for treatment but lost their legal battle, with the second-highest court in the U.K. ruling on Nov. 10 that the baby’s life support be removed “immediately,” an order that is expected to be carried out sometime over the weekend.

Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice Eleanor King, and Lord Justice Andrew Moylan made the ruling after a remote hearing in the Court of Appeal. The ruling called the attempted Italian intervention in Gregory’s case “wholly misconceived” and “not in the spirit” of the 1996 Hague Convention, to which both the U.K. and Italy are parties.

The decision came after Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote to the U.K.’s lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice on Nov. 10 in an appeal to bring Gregory to Rome for treatment.

The general manager of the Vatican’s Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital, Dr. Antonio Perno, had also made an urgent application to the U.K. high court the day prior calling for the judge to cede jurisdiction of the case to him.

The Bambino Gesù, which is run by the Vatican, has offered to treat other terminally ill British infants in the past, such as Alfie Evans in 2018 and Charlie Gard in 2017, both of whom were ultimately denied the chance to travel to Italy by U.K. courts and died days after being removed from life support.

Indi Gregory’s treatment at Bambino Gesù would have been done at no cost to U.K. taxpayers.