On Monday morning, President Donald Trump expressed support for the parents of 10-month-old baby Charlie Gard, offering United States’ assistance.
“If we can help little Charlie Gard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so,” wrote President Trump from his personal Twitter account.
Charlie suffers from an extremely rare mitochondrial disease that is typically fatal. With no treatment available in the U.K. to save the 10-month-old, Charlie’s parents raised a stunning $1.6 million so they could travel to the United States for experimental treatment. But the parents’ fight to save their son was stopped by European courts, which sided with Charlie’s doctors who say the 10-month-old must stay put and be removed from his life support; Charlie’s parents mustn’t pursue possibly life-saving treatment because he must “die with dignity,” ruled the courts.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children was supposed to withdraw all life support from the baby on Friday, but the hospital, likely due to public pressures, have yet to kill Charlie.
Over the weekend, Pope Francis veered from the statement issued from his own Pontifical Academy for Life and stood in solidarity with Charlie’s parents, and with life.
As reported by Crux, a Catholic news site, the Pope reiterated that the Catholic Church wishes “the desire of 10-month-old Charlie Gard’s parents ‘to accompany and care for their own child to the end’ will be respected.”
“The Holy Father follows with affection and commotion the situation of Charlie Gard, and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” reads a statement from Greg Burke, a spokesperson of the Pope.
“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected,” the statement continues.
As noted by Daily Wire’s Frank Camp, the Pontifical Academy for Life President Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia’s statement was “chilling,” siding with the courts against Charlie’s parents.
“Paglia’s statement reveals, in stark fashion, how European ethics have corroded the moral rectitude of the Catholic Church — a church that used to stand boldly for life,” noted Camp.
It’s unclear what will happen to baby Charlie, but a show of support from the leader of the free world is good sign for his family.