Nun who gave birth now feels ‘more like a mother’

A Salvadorean nun who said she had no idea she was pregnant and gave birth in Italy said she now feels more like a mother than a nun.

The 33-year-old mother, Sister Roxana Rodriguez, sparked global headlines after giving birth to her son and naming him Francesco (Francis) — also the Pope’s chosen title and one of the most popular names in Italy, where St Francis of Assisi is the national patron saint.

She described her child as “a gift of God” and pledged to take care of him as she faces expulsion from the convent.

The nun belongs to the “Little Disciples of Jesus” convent in Campomoro near Rieti, which manages an old people’s home.

Her fellow nuns were quoted as saying they were “very surprised”.

She was rushed to Rieti hospital last week after she felt stomach cramps in her convent. She claims she was unaware she was pregnant, but wants to keep the child, who weighs 3.5 kilogrammes (9lb).

The father of the child is believed to be in El Salvador and Father Benedetto Falcetti, head of the regional branch of the Catholic charity, Caritas, said Sister Roxana may have fallen pregnant when she returned home to renew her passport.

“It all happened in El Salvador between March and April last year,” he said. “It was the rekindling of a childhood flame.”

Sister Roxana told social worker Anna Fontanella: “I will definitely take care of my baby because he is a gift of God. I called him Francis in honour of our South American pope.

“However, I am very worried about the commotion that this has stirred up. They are talking about this, not only in Italy but in my own country and I am afraid to return there.”

She said that before she went into labour she believed she was suffering from an ongoing gastric infection and cystitis, a bladder infection. She blamed poor digestion on her weight gain, though none of the nuns she works alongside had noticed anything out of the ordinary

Sister Roxana has written a letter of apology to the order’s mother superior general Elvira Petaraca — the woman who in September she solemnly promised to follow her vows of “chastity, poverty and obedience”.