Pope Francis praying for terminally ill British baby and his parents

Vatican City, July 24 (IANS/AKI) Pope Francis is praying for 11-month-old Charlie Gard and his parents after they said they have ended their legal battle over treatment for the critically sick British baby, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said on Monday.

"Pope Francis is praying for Charlie and his parents and he feels especially close to them in this moment of indescribable suffering," Burke said.

"The Holy Father asks us to unite in prayer that they may find God's consolation and love."

Charlie's parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates on Friday announced they were ending a five-month legal fight to for him to receive experimental treatment in the US rather than be allowed to die.

Their lawyer said that delays meant it was too late for the baby to receive experimental nucleoside treatment and "it was no longer in Charlie's interests" to keep him on life-support.

The Pope and US President Donald Trump last month offered to intervene in the emotional and protracted legal case that pitted Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London against Charlie's parents.

Charlie's rare genetic disease, encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, which has caused irreversible brain and muscle damage. He is unable to move his arms or legs, breathe without a ventilator, and according to the hospital, is blind and deaf.

His parents had raised 1.3 million pounds in donations to take their son abroad for treatment.

--IANS/AKI

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