Nun gives birth in Italy, says she didn't know she was pregnant

A Salvadorean nun who said she had no idea she was pregnant gave

birth in Italy this week after she felt stomach cramps in her convent

and was rushed to hospital, Italian media reported on Friday.

The 31-year-old mother and her baby boy, who weighs 3.5 kilograms (9

pounds), are doing well and other new mothers in Rieti hospital have

begun collecting clothes and donations for her, the reports said.

"I did not know I was pregnant. I only felt a stomach pain," the nun was

quoted as saying at the hospital, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Continue...

La Repubblica said she gave birth on Wednesday.





ANSA

said the nun had named her baby Francesco (Francis) -- also the pope's

chosen title and one of the most popular names in Italy, where St

Francis of Assisi is the much-loved national patron saint.


The hospital could not be reached for comment.





The nun belongs to the "Little Disciples of Jesus" convent in Campomoro

near Rieti, which manages an old people's home and reports said she

would keep the baby.





Her fellow nuns were quoted saying they were "very surprised"