Newborn boy abandoned in Nativity scene manger at NY church

A newborn baby was found alive and healthy in an indoor nativity scene at Holy Child Jesus Church in Richmond Hill in Queens on Monday. When he returned around 1 p.m., there was a full-term newborn baby laying in the manager.

“He was wrapped in, for lack of a better word, swaddling clothes.”

“Police was called and the baby was taken by ambulance to Jamaica Hospital where it is being treated”. She found in this crèche… this empty place where Jesus will be in a few weeks…as a home for her son.

Churches are considered safe havens where unwanted infants can be left, but the law requires that the child be left with an adult.

A video of the woman buying towels at a store about a block away from the church was also found, showing the woman carrying the baby wrapped inside her coat.

Under New York law, a parent may abandon a newborn baby anonymously at designated safe locations, under the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, but the person must hand the baby over to the appropriate person.

Church pastor Christopher Heanue wrote on the church’s Facebook page that the newborn was a boy and weighed a little more than 5 pounds.

Alexander Hoffmann Father Christopher Heanue said the baby was placed near the altar, in the nativity scene.

The identity of the mother is still unknown by authorities, though detectives were in the process of speaking with who they believe may be the woman Tuesday afternoon, reports The New York Times.

Police have obtained CCTV footage of a woman with a baby near the church, who is then seen again later without a baby, however they are not releasing the footage. And the care she had for the baby.

Heanue called the baby a “Christmas miracle” in an interview with Reuters and said a young couple in the church has offered to adopt the child.