Former Sister Roxana Rodriguez has received tremendous attention from the media due to her unknown pregnancy and birth in the Italian city of Rieti where she was a nun in the Franciscan order, according to the Daily Mail.
The nun was rushed to the hospital last week after feeling stomach cramps which turned out to be an eight pound baby boy she has named Francesco after the Argentinian pope, The Telegraph reported.
The nun lived in the Little Disciples of Jesus Convent where she looked after the elderly, according to The Telegraph. After finding out she was actually pregnant, Rodriguez allegedly told her Superior Mother she had no idea she had been pregnant.
Rodriguez violated the nuns vow of chastity and will no longer be a nun at the covenant. Though she has no where to go due to the unplanned pregnancy, she is happy to have given birth, according to the Daily Mail.
"I am so happy. I feel more of a mother than a nun, I think that's obvious. I decided to call him Francis in honour of our wonderful south American Pope. I do not feel of guilt. I will be keeping him and bringing him up. He is a gift from God," Rodriguez told her social worker, according to The Mail.
"I am little worried about all the publicity, not only in Italy but in El Salvador and all over the world. Everyone is talking about this and I don't think I will be able to return to my home country, let alone Rieti," she added.
Since giving birth Rodriguez has remained at a local hospital in Riete which has been on a tight security lockdown because of the media attention her baby has caused, according to The Telegraph.
The Mail reported she took a trip back home to El Salvador about nine months ago in order to fix a passport related issue, which is when she became pregnant.
"We appreciate her decision to care for her baby, notwithstanding the gravity of the circumstances, both from a moral and a canon law perspective," Delio Lucarelli, the bishop of Rieti, said, according to The Telegraph.
A local health official, Anna Fontanella, said Rodriguez s likely to be moved to a shelter after she is released from the hospital.
"We are still evaluating all the options for when she is finally discharged from hospital. I think some form of sheltered housing is the most likely," Fontanella said, according to the Telegraph.
