London:

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have sent their prayers and condolences to the family of eight-month-old Indi Gregory, who died on Monday morning after the removal of her life support. The baby girl suffering from a rare degenerative mitochondrial disease had been receiving life-sustaining treatment at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, England. Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth, the girl's parents, had repeatedly appealed in UK courts to be able to take their baby to Rome for treatment. Indi died on Monday in the hospice to which she had been transferred over the weekend following the UK High Court's decision on November 10 to "immediately" withdraw her life support.

In a statement, Bishop Patrick McKinney of Nottingham, and Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues, assured the parents of the Bishops’ prayers and those of all the Catholic Community, including Pope Francis. The Italian government granted the critically ill child citizenship on November 6 and agreed to cover her medical expenses at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital, Bambino Gesù.

The bishops stated, “As a baptized child of God, we believe that she will now share in the joy of heaven after her short life, which brought deep joy to her parents, who loved and protected her as a precious gift of God.” They highlighted the need for greater weight to be given to the parental voice in these complex and sensitive cases. In addition, they called to reintroduce the amendment to the Health and Care Act 2022 proposed by Baroness Ilora Finlay on ‘Dispute resolution in children’s palliative care’.

The amendment was proposed in response to the tragedy of Charlie Gard, a British infant who died in 2017 after a long legal battle fought by his parents to keep him on life support. On November 13, Indi died at the hospice in her mother's arms. In a statement to the British advocacy group Christian Concern, Indi’s parents said they “are angry, heartbroken, and ashamed. The National Health Service and the courts not only took away her chance to live a longer life, but they also took away Indi’s dignity to pass away in the family home where she belonged.”