VATICAN CITY -- A seven-months-pregnant woman working as Pope Francis' receptionist secretary has been discovered dead in her apartment in Rome, where her body had been for several days before being found by her brother, police sources say.

 Miriam Woldu, 34, had been working as a receptionist at the pontiff's Santa Marta residence where she had developed a secret romantic relationship with a member of the pope's security entourage, who is assumed to have been the baby's father. Even this man, however, failed to raise the alarm until after she was not heard from for several days, telling police that he could not have done anything because he was on a mission abroad.

 Woldu, Italian but of Eritrean origin, had been at home ill for several weeks after complications had arisen with her pregnancy due to severe diabetes. Initial results from an autopsy on her body have confirmed the death to be from natural causes, assumed to be a diabetic coma. Police have nonetheless opened an investigation into the incident and have confiscated Woldu's medical documents and insulin-dispenser apparatus. Magistrates are currently looking for evidence of negligence on the part of Woldu's doctors, and manslaughter has not been ruled out.

 Woldu was described as a "lonely woman" by a neighbour, who was also the one to discover Woldu's hidden affair when she bumped into the couple on the stairs. Il Messaggero reported the neighbour as saying that "[Miriam] was a beautiful woman, she loved music, she listened to South American songs, but she seemed lonely to me."

 She told of often hearing Woldu fighting fiercely with someone on the telephone, possibly an ex-husband from who she had separated a year ago after an unhappy and violent marriage.

 The pope expressed disbelief at the news of Woldu's death, and the Vatican has requested a full investigation by the Italian authorities into the mysterious death.

 Woldu was found in her apartment on the outskirts of Rome on Friday, fully clothed in her bed with no signs of violence. Both the main door and bedroom door were locked from the inside, eliminating almost certainly the possibility of murder.

 The incident follows a Vatican murder mystery case 18 years ago, when young Swiss Guard halberdier Cédric Tornay was accused of killing his commander Alois Estermann and Estermann's wife before turning the gun upon himself. Estermann had the same day been promoted to the position of commander in chief of the Swiss Guard, the pope's private army, prompting speculation that the murder was motivated by professional jealousy although all theories regarding the murder have remained unconfirmed.

jp-ft