R.I.P.

Terminally Ill British Toddler Alfie Evans Dies

Five days after being taken off life support.

Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old boy at the center of a legal battle over his care, passed away Saturday, just five days after being taken off life support. “My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30,” his father, Tom Evans, announced on Facebook early Saturday. Alfie’s death came just days after his parents lost a court battle to take him to the Vatican’s children’s hospital to be kept on life support, an initiative that won support from Pope Francis himself. The toddler suffered from a rare degenerative brain condition that doctors saw no chance of curing. His parents fought for months to win the right to take him overseas for treatment, but the courts ruled that would only prolong his suffering.