Was the Virgin Mary actually a virgin? A Spanish nun claimed on television last weekend that Mary was not a virgin, and the nun has since received death threats, The Guardian reported. 

Sister Lucía Caram has a large following in Spain as she hosts a television show about sex and faith.

“I think Mary was in love with Joseph and that they were a normal couple – and having sex is a normal thing,” Caram said, according to a translation provided by The Guardian. “It’s hard to believe and hard to take in. We’ve ended up with the rules we’ve invented without getting to the true message.”

Caram's statement goes against Christian and Catholic views that Jesus' mother Mary was a virgin throughout her life. Caram's comments were quickly rebuked by Catholic bishops, The Guardian reported. 

But Caram believes viewers misunderstood her point. 

“When asked about the Virgin Mary, I said that, 'as I see it, Mary obviously loved Joseph' … I wanted to say that it wouldn’t shock me if she had had a normal couple’s relationship with Joseph, her husband," Caram said in a statement, according to The Guardian's translation.

“This shocked a lot of people, perhaps because there was no opportunity for clarification."

In Caram's statement, she apologized to those offended by her comments.