VATICAN CITY — Highlighting the plight of a seriously ill toddler in Great Britain and a severely brain-damaged man in France, Pope Francis called for greater respect for every patient’s life and dignity. After praying the “Regina Coeli” with people gathered in St. Peter’s Square April 15, the pope asked that everyone pray for “people, such as Vincent Lambert in France, little Alfie Evans in England, and others in different countries, who have been living, sometimes for a long time, in a condition of serious infirmity, (and are) medically assisted for their basic needs.” These “delicate situations,” he said, are “very painful and complex. Let us pray that every sick person may always be respected in their dignity and cared for in an appropriate way for their condition, with the unanimous contribution of family members, doctors and other health-care workers, and with great respect for life,” he said. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said he strongly hoped there could be an opening of dialogue and collaboration between Alfie’s parents and hospital officials so that “together they may seek the integral well-being of Alfie and caring for his life will not be reduced to a legal controversy. Alfie cannot be abandoned; Alfie, and his parents likewise, must be fully loved,” the archbishop wrote in a statement released April 15.