Nun narrates leaving the church to marry fellow nun

The couple wrote to the pope requesting to be released from their vows

Monica Hingston when she was a nun vs when she left the convent
Image: Courtesy

Two nuns shocked the world when they both left the convent to start a life together after falling in love with each other.

The two nuns Monica Hingston and Peg met in Chile, South America where Monica who joined the convent at 21 years had gone on a sabbatical.

The two bonded while empowering women in the region and in those moments, they realised they had the same philosophy in life and love.

Speaking to the Insider, Monica admits that after a few conversations with Peg she knew what she felt for her was something she had never felt for any other human being.

 
 

She confessed her feelings to her lover saying, "I don't want you to leave, but I'm afraid to ask you to stay, my entire life changed at that point. Every road had led me to her. I realized I was falling deeply in love and she felt the same."

At the time when they met, Peg had been a nun for 25 years, while Monica was in her 21st year.

 
 

Realizing what they wanted the two wrote letters to the pope and were released from their vows, they then moved to Torquay, Australia to live happily as a lesbian couple.

"There Peg and I connected on every level, we hugged 5 or 6 times a day. we shared our fears and hopes, I'd never known happiness like it," said Monica.

However, they couldn't get married in the early 2000s as in 2003 the church instructed Catholic politicians to actively oppose laws recognizing gay unions calling those seeking them "depraved".

The two bared it all and in 2011 after gay rights were passed and the two couldn't wait to get married.

But then sadness came knocking, In 2011 as the two soulmates were planning their wedding, Peg was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer.

And sadly she passed away just three months later at 74 years old. Monica was 70 years at the time.

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