A homeless woman gave birth near the Vatican this week in freezing temperatures. On Wednesday at around 2.30 a.m., an unnamed 35-year-old Romanian woman, who was sleeping in a cardboard box just outside St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City State, went into labor.
Despite the near-freezing temperatures and having no help from medical experts, the woman delivered a healthy baby girl with the assistance of her partner, who is also homeless. When police arrived on the scene, they found the baby in the cardboard box with the umbilical cord still attached. An Italian policewoman, Maria Capone, and her colleagues covered both the newborn and the mother with their jackets until an ambulance arrived. Capone said:
“I think it was close to zero [degrees]. When I got close I saw that the baby was already born and was still attached by the umbilical cord to the mother. With my colleagues we tried to warm them up. We covered them with our uniform jackets.”
Another policeman added:
“The baby regained color on her face after we covered her.”
In a statement issued by the Vatican spokesman, it was revealed that they have offered the woman a one-year free accommodation in a Church-owned apartment.
She has not decided to take the offer. The head of Pope’s Francis‘ charity office, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, has visited the woman and her baby in a hospital a few blocks away from the Vatican.
