Reports online suggest that the Catholic Church has launched an investigation after two missionary nuns reportedly got pregnant while on a working trip in Africa.
The two women belonged to separate religious orders in the Island Sicily, and are expecting children despite their vows to abstain from sexual relationships.
One of the ladies who is a mother superior got to know she was several weeks pregnant while the other woman confirmed hers when she complained of stomach pain.
They are now facing an uncertain future in their profession and the scandal has caused the clergy to be miffed.
One of the women, aged 34, discovered her pregnancy when she went to the hospital with stomach pain, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Her religious order has not been identified, but reports say she belonged to a convent in Sicily’s Nebrodi mountains, however, she has now moved to Palermo to prepare for the birth of her child.
The nun may now choose to give up her monastic life altogether and focus on raising her child, it is believed.
In the case of the second nun who was mother superior, she was originally from Madagascar and was discovered to be several weeks pregnant.
According to reports, she had been caring for the elderly at an institute in Ragusa.
She has already returned to her home country, according to reports, but the double scandal has caused concern among the church hierarchy.
‘There is consternation at this news,’ a church source in Rome, where the Catholic Church has its headquarters, told reporters.
“It appears that both women were back in their home nations and obviously had some form of sexual encounter.
“An investigation has been launched. They both breached strict rules of chastity but the welfare of their children is uppermost,” the church source said.
Credit: Daily Mail
