The President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez, has become the godmother to the child of a lesbian couple.

The two month old baby, Umma Azul, was baptised in a Catholic Cathedral with her mothers Carina Villarroel and Soledad Ortiz.

Based on an old Russian tradition,. families can ask the President to be the godparent of their seventh child. Azul is the first child of the couple, and is the first known child in Argentina to have received the blessing under such circumstances. Nancy Esteche of the Argentinian presidential office confirmed that it would make an exception for Villarroel and Ortiz, who married in 2013.

President Fernandez did not appear at the baptism ceremony in Cordoba, instead sending a representative.

Despite much resistance from the Catholic Church, President Cristina Fernandez won a battle to have same sex marriage legalised in Argentina four years ago. It was the first South American country to do so.