14 DAY TRIAL // A virgin Mary-like case managed to shock the Catholic Church as a nun from the Little Disciples of Jesus order gave birth to a baby boy, she claimed she had no knowledge about. The 33-year-old woman accused her labor pain to be a stomach ache and was rushed to the hospital from her convent.
Sister Roxana, from El Salvador, belonged to a nunnery in Camporo near Rieti, Italy and surprised her entire convent, and apparently herself, when she gave birth last week.
The nun arrived in Italy last summer and in September she vowed to follow the three rules of the convent – chastity, poverty and obedience.
Even if at the beginning, the woman played the innocent card, she finally admitted to knowing about the baby. It is believed that the child’s father is an old love of hers from El Salvador.
Sister Roxana wrote a letter to her disappointed mother superior in order to apologize for the incident and for the fact that she breached her trust.
Church officials were outraged by the event and claimed the nun broke her vows while she was back in El Salvador to renew her passport in spring.
Father Benedetto Falcetti, from a nearby church, has stated that he expects Sister Roxana to tell the father of the child about their son and to be reunited as a normal family, notes Daily Mail.
Despite her superiors’ anger, the new mother has been flooded with gifts including money, baby clothing and accessories, since the news went public. The hospital had to have extra security on the maternity wing in order to control the people attracted by the nun.
Sister Roxana is expected to keep her child, whom she named Francesco (Francis) in honor of the current Pope.
Spokesman from the local bishop of Rieti stated that the case would be investigated in order to see what the circumstances were and if the rapport was consensual or the result of violence. The nun will have to face the bishop and explain the reasons behind her actions.