Nun Giving Birth in Italy Said She Had No Idea She Was Pregnant

On Wednesday, a 31-year-old nun who originally came from El Salvador gave birth to a son in the Italian city of Rieti, and said after she was rushed to the hospital with what she thought were stomach cramps that she had no idea she was pregnant. 

She belongs to the “Little Disciples of Jesus” convent in Campomoro near Rieti, which manages a home for the elderly.

The nun said, “I did not know I was pregnant. I only felt a stomach pain.” She reportedly named the boy Francis, after Pope Francis. Other mothers at the hospital have begun gathering clothes and funds for the nun and her child; the nuns at the convent said they were “surprised” that she was pregnant. Don Fabrizio Borrello, a pastor in Rieti, told reporters that the nun planned to raise the child, and added, “I guess she’s telling the truth when she says she arrived at the hospital unaware of the pregnancy.”