Newborn baby found in nativity scene at New York church

Christmas came early this year at the Holy Child Jesus Church in Queens, New York.

When a custodian heard crying noises and instinctively followed them, he discovered a newborn baby bundled in towels, laying in the wooden manger of the church's recently erected wooden manger.

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It was obvious that this child had been born very recently -- his umbilical cord was still attached, and his eyes had yet to open. Emergency staff took the 5 pound baby boy to the nearby Jamaica Hospital, "his slight arms outstretched toward the sky."

Although police have reported that there is video footage of a woman arriving at the church with a baby and departing without one, her identity is unknown. According to New York's "safe haven" law, people are protected from prosecution who anonymously leave a baby in "certain designated locations, such as hospitals, firehouses, police stations and churches." However, seeing that the baby's mother neither left the infant in anyone's care nor alerted authorities to the situation, she is not necessarily safe from facing criminal charges.

Some members of the church don't consider the mother's act a criminal one:

"It wasn't abandonment," said Reverend Christopher Ryan Heanue. "It was placing him in the hands of God."

%shareLinks-quote="For unto us a child is born." type="quote" author="Rev. Christopher Ryan Heanue" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday="false"%

"She was probably just thinking that this is a safe place," said a member of the congregation, "and that the person who would find him would do the right thing."

Luckily, the baby, who doctors report had been born less than six hours before he was spotted, is in good health. A family in the parish soon offered to adopt the baby, who has been appropriately nicknamed "Baby Jesus."

Another miracle occurred when this baby was found safe and sound:

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