New Mum-Nun, Sister Roxana Rodriguez, Has No Feelings of Guilt Over Having a Baby But Afraid to Return to El Salvador
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It is not only her secret pregnancy that is out for the whole world to know. Even the identity of the El Salvador nun who shocked the Catholic world with the news that she gave birth to a baby boy has been revealed to the public.
British newspaper Daily Mail identified her as Sister Roxana Rodriguez from the order of the Little Disciples of Jesus. The Italian daily, Corrriere Della Sera, also published her photo when she took her vows as a nun in September 2012.
But despite the "scandal" that news of her seemingly "virgin birth" caused, Sister Roxanne said, quoted by Strait Times, "I do not feel guilt. I will be keeping him and bringing him up."
The new mum is still at the San Carmelo de Lellis Hospital in Rieti. She described her son as a gift from God, and as proof, even named him Francesco, after the current pontiff, Pope Francis.
However, the soon-to-be defrocked nun admitted that while she has to leave the convent, she is afraid to return to El Salvador for fear of causing a commotion as news of the pregnancy and birth has spread.
Fr Benedetto Falcetti, head of the regional branch of Caritas, a Catholic charity, theorised that the father of the baby is a childhood flame of Sister Roxana, and the pair briefly rekindled their romance when she went for a vacation in El Salvador in early 2013 at about the same time that Pope Francis was just elected as new pope.
Until she had labour pain, she believed she was suffering from gastric infection and a bladder infection which explain her bulging abdomen and missing menstrual cycle.
But when she was rushed to the emergency room and underwent an ultrasound test, the doctor told her she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, prompting the little nun to scream: "I can't give birth. I am a nun."
Due to the scandal that she created, Sister Roxana wrote Elvira Petaraca, the mother superior of the order, a letter of apology. Meanwhile, the hospital staff donated nappies and infant clothing and paraphernalia to the unprepared mum, while Riete Mayor Simone Petrangeli also offered help.
