Just hours after entering the world, a baby boy was abandoned in a church nativity scene — an early Christmas surprise that earned him the nickname “Baby Jesus.” 
 
 And get this: The name of the Queens house of worship in Richmond Hill where the baby was found on Monday is the Holy Child Jesus Church. 
 
 The full-term newborn was found swaddled in purple towels in the nativity’s crèche — where baby Jesus is found on Christmas morning. 
 
 Jose Moran, 60, a custodian at the church for three years, went to lunch and returned just after 1 p.m. He quickly got back to work — unaware of the newborn just a few feet away. 
 
 The baby was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where officials say he is going to be fine. (Courtesy Father Christopher Heanue) 
 
 “I was in the church sweeping,” he told the Daily News. “Then I hear a child crying. I didn’t make much of it. I thought there was somebody in the church with a child.” 
 
 So, he went back to sweeping. 
 
 A church custodian found the abandoned newborn Monday in the church nativity scene, with the umbilical cord still attached. (Paul Cerni/AP) 
 
 “I looked around and didn’t see anyone,” he recalled. “That got me curious. I followed the cries. I walked to the little nativity home we had installed inside the church ... I couldn’t believe my eyes. The baby was wrapped in towels. He still had his umbilical cord. He was next to the Virgin (Mary).” 
 
 Moran said workers at the church finished setting up the wooden manger and crèche about an hour before the baby was found. 
 
 “At least whoever abandoned him brought him to a safe place and didn’t leave him to die,” he said. 
 
 The custodian shared the story with his wife. 
 
 “She asked me why I didn’t bring him home,” Moran laughed. “I hope he finds the right home. He’s a miracle baby.” 
 
 The baby was given a clean bill of health at Jamaica Hospital and was in the care of the Administration of Children’s Services Tuesday as cops try to track down the mom. 
 
 Detectives also found video of the woman buying towels at the .99 Cents & Up Market on Jamaica Ave., about a block away from the church. (Courtesy) 
 
 “God works in mysterious ways,” an overjoyed Father Christopher Heanue said Tuesday. “(The child’s mother) must have been in a difficult place in her life. She found in this crèche ... this empty place where Jesus will be in a few weeks ... as a home for her son.” 
 
 At least one parishioner has offered to adopt Baby Jesus, who is also being called John the Baptist, the prophet who heralded Jesus’ arrival. 
 
 “This child was ... a kind of gift to the church in a poetic way, so we'd love to see it stay in the community,” Heanue said. 
 
 The newborn was found inside Holy Child Jesus Church on 86th Ave. in Richmond Hill around noon on Monday. (Sunshine Steven) Father Christopher Heanue said the baby was placed near the altar, in the nativity scene. (Courtesy Father Christopher Hean) 
 
 Police recovered surveillance video that shows the woman walking into the church with the baby and exiting a few minutes later empty handed. Detectives also found video of the woman buying towels at the .99 Cents & Up Market on Jamaica Ave., about a block away from the church. The woman had the baby with her, bundled up inside her coat, when she walked in, store clerk John Lv, 28, said. 
 
 "She was pretty calm,” Lv told The News. 
 
 Lv was surprised the woman abandoned the child. 
 
 José Morán found the baby sitting in the nativity’s crèche inside Holy Child Jesus Church on 86th Ave. in Richmond Hill. 
 
 "Maybe she couldn't raise the baby,” Lv said. 
 
 Churches, police stations, firehouses and hospitals, are considered safe havens where unwanted infants under 30 days old can be left, no questions asked, according to the state’s Safe Haven Law. But the mother could face charges because she didn’t tell anyone where the baby was, police said. 
 
 “We can’t imagine the desperation she must have gone through, but placing the baby in the manger where Jesus is born ... she wanted him to be close to Christ,” Brooklyn-Queens Diocese spokeswoman Rocio Fidalgo said. “We may never meet her, but our prayers are with her.” 
 
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 With Rocco Parascandola ||||| For a short time Monday afternoon, the Christmas manger at a New York City church might've been able to pass for the real thing: A newborn baby, with the umbilical cord still attached, was abandoned there. Now, New York City police are searching for whoever left the child. 
 
 It was around 11:30 a.m. Monday when a custodian at the Holy Child of Jesus Church in the Richmond Hill section of Queens left the empty chapel to get lunch. When he returned shortly after 1 p.m., he heard a baby crying, but saw no one else around. 
 
 That's when, New York City police said, the custodian turned to a nativity scene in the front of the church and saw a newborn baby wrapped in towels laying in the manger. Church pastor Christopher Heanue wrote on the church's Facebook page that the baby was a boy and weighed a little more than 5 pounds. 
 
 Emergency crews brought the newborn to a local hospital, where he was in good health, police said. 
 
 New York has a so-called safe haven law that says a newborn can be dropped off anonymously at a church, hospital, police or fire station without fear of prosecution. But the law, known as the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, requires that the child be left with someone or for authorities to be called immediately. Police said that didn't happen in this case, which has led investigators to begin searching for the person who dropped the child at the church. 
 
 Officers were canvassing the neighborhood around the church on Tuesday, looking for surveillance cameras that may might recorded something police can use. Authorities said they were also questioning witnesses to try to track down the baby's mother. 
 
 "Let us pray for this child," Heanue wrote, "for his parents and for whomever will receive him into their home." 
 
 ——— 
 
 Associated Press writer Jake Pearson contributed to this report.
– A janitor who heard a baby crying in an empty New York City church was astonished to find a real newborn baby in the church's Nativity scene with its umbilical cord still attached. Jose Moran tells the New York Daily News that he found the baby after returning from his lunch break on Monday, only about an hour after the manger was set up in the Holy Child Jesus Church in Queens. Police say the baby boy, who was found wrapped in a blanket, was brought to a hospital and found to be in good health. "At least whoever abandoned him brought him to a safe place and didn't leave him to die," Moran says. "I hope he finds the right home. He's a miracle baby." Police are trying to track down the newborn's mother. New York has a "safe haven" law allowing people to drop off unwanted newborns at places like churches, hospitals, and fire stations, reports the AP, but the mother could still face charges because the law requires authorities to be immediately informed of the baby's whereabouts. One of the church's parishioners has already offered to adopt the boy. "God works in mysterious ways," Father Christopher Heanue tells the Daily News. The infant was "a kind of gift to the church in a poetic way, so we'd love to see it stay in the community," he says. (Last year, Joseph proposed to Mary during a break from a Michigan church's live Nativity scene.)