LONDON (AP) — British killer nurse Lucy Letby lost her bid Thursday to challenge her conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl in her care.
Letby, 34, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder seven others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England between June 2015 and June 2016.
Her attorney argued that her retrial in July on a charge of attempting to kill an infant identified in court as Child K in February 2016 should not have gone ahead because it was overshadowed by “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” from news coverage of her first trial in 2023.
The retrial was held after Manchester Crown Court jurors failed to reach a verdict on the charge involving Child K.
Letby, who testified that she never harmed a child, has continued to proclaim her innocence. She watched the hearing from a prison video link and showed no emotion when judges denied her petition to appeal.
The court issued a similar decision in May in her effort to appeal her multiple earlier convictions.
The ruling comes as an inquiry is underway to examine failures by the hospital to recognize why babies were dying in the neonatal unit and to stop Letby sooner.
FILE - Members of the media work outside the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, England, Aug. 18, 2023. (Jacob King/Pool photo via AP)
FILE - This undated handout issued by Cheshire Constabulary shows of nurse Lucy Letby. (Cheshire Constabulary via AP, File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis issued the fourth encyclical of his papacy on Thursday, denouncing a world that “is losing its heart” during times of global turmoil marked by “wars, socio-economic disparities and the uses of technology that threaten our humanity.”
The document titled “Dilexit Nos,” Latin for “He Loves Us,” was issued to coincide with the 350th anniversary of St. Margaret Mary Alocoque's first apparition, which helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus revealing his love of humanity.
The social encyclical appeals to the faithful to “meditate” on Jesus’ love in a world in which consumerism and algorithms obscure humanity. It is his fourth encyclical, the best-known of which to date is the 2015 “Laudato Si,” or “Praised Be,” which cast care for the environment in moral terms.
In “Dilexit Nos,” the pontiff did not cite specific examples of global turmoil in the 220-paragraph document issued in eight languages, although he frequently refers to conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza in homilies, weekly prayers and global travels.
Francis often asks for prayers for the “martyred” people of Ukraine and most recently cited “inhumane attacks” in Gaza. In the Middle East conflict, he has tended to take a balanced line, often mentioning Israel and the hostages still held by Hamas alongside the suffering of the Palestinians.
In the document, the pontiff said the failure to “feel that something is intolerable” in the suffering on both sides of conflict “is a sign of a world that has grown heartless.”
“When we witness the outbreak of new wars, with the complicity, tolerance or indifference of other countries, or petty power struggles over partisan interests, we may be tempted to conclude that our world is losing its heart,’’ he wrote.
The pope warned that consumer-driven societies “dominated by the hectic pace and bombarded by technology,” risked interfering with the possibility of engaging with an “interior life.”
He noted that algorithms have revealed that “our thoughts and will are much more ‘uniform’ than we had previously thought. They are easily predictable and thus capable of being manipulated.”
In an era of artificial intelligence, "we cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity,’’ he wrote.
Vatican encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal teaching and traditionally take their titles from the first two words of the document.
Mons. Bruno Forte, a theologian who is archbishop of the Italian diocese of Chiet-Vasto, said the “Dilexit Nos” encyclical "can be truly considered as a summary of everything that Pope Francis has said and wishes to say to our brothers in humanity. He says, ‘God loves you and has shown you in the best way, through Jesus.’'
Forte said the document should not be viewed as “just a spiritual refuge,” but as a proposal of “love, mutual reception and forgiveness.”
Monsignor Bruno Forte, right, and Sister Antonella Fraccaro pose for a photo with a copy of the Pope Francis' encyclical titled "Dilexit Nos," Latin for "He Loves Us," after a press conference for its presentation at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Monsignor Bruno Forte talks during a press conference for the presentation of the Pope Francis' encyclical titled "Dilexit Nos," Latin for "He Loves Us," at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A copy of Pope Francis' encyclical titled "Dilexit Nos," Latin for "He Loves Us," is shown after a press conference for its presentation at the Vatican, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
FILE -Pope Francis attends a session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
