A pregnant nun sounds like something you might see in an Adam Sandler movie, but it is actually a real scenario. 31 year old Roxana Rodriguez was living a simple life in a convent, but all that changed one night when she started experiencing stomach pain.
The pain got so bad that the nun went to the hospital where she learned that she was pregnant and in labor. “It’s not possible, I’m a nun,” she allegedly told doctors in Rieta.
Rodriguez named her baby boy Francesco in honor of the Pope. The birth has shocked the Roman Catholic Church and caused harsh criticism for Rodriguez.
According to a spokesman from Delio Lucarelli, the bishop of Rieti, the nun has been forced to leave the convent where she had been living and will be required to “lead a secular life with her baby, away from religious institutions.”
Although Rodriguez denied knowing that she was pregnant, most people believe that she was lying and trying to keep the pregnancy a secret. It is believed that she may have gotten pregnant while visiting El Salvador in 2013.
Although the sisters within the convent said they had noticed Rodriguez gaining weight, they did not think she was pregnant or feel that anything was wrong.
“We noticed she had put on weight but recently she had kept herself to herself,” one said.
Rodriguez has not released a statement about her plans for the future, but the local diocese and the mayor of Rieti, Simone Petrangeli, have offered to help her.
Do you believe that Rodriguez did not know she was pregnant or do you think she was just keeping the pregnancy a secret?
Image via Wikimedia Commons.