Image copyright AP Image caption The star previously adopted two children from Malawi with ex-husband Guy Ritchie 
 
 Pop star Madonna has denied "rumours" she has applied to adopt two more children in Malawi. 
 
 It comes after a Malawian government spokesperson told news outlets the 58-year-old singer had appeared in court and had "filed an application expressing interest" to adopt. 
 
 Madonna is currently in the African country, but said her visit was strictly for charity purposes. 
 
 "The rumours of an adoption process are untrue," she said in a statement. 
 
 "I am in Malawi to check on the children's hospital in Blantyre and my other work with Raising Malawi and then heading home." 
 
 Court spokesman Mlenga Mvula had told news agencies earlier on Wednesday the singer had appeared in High Court, applying to adopt two children. 
 
 "As a court, we adjourned the matter for a ruling (in the next two weeks). The court will either grant the adoption order or might not," he said. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Madonna with her children (L-R): David, Madonna, Lourdes, Mercy and Rocco visiting Malawi in 2013 
 
 Madonna previously adopted two children from the African country: David Banda in 2006 and Mercy James in 2009. 
 
 The star's relationship with Malawi dates back to 2006, when she established the Raising Malawi charity, with the goal of improving children's lives. 
 
 She initially planned to build a $15m (£12m) girls' academy, but later changed strategy, and used the money to fund a number of schools. 
 
 The charity also provides scholarships to female students, and is currently building the country's first paediatric intensive care unit at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, in Blantyre. 
 
 Madonna visited the project last summer, and took David and Mercy to visit the orphanages where they lived before being adopted. 
 
 The star has two other children - Lourdes and Rocco - from previous relationships. Last year saw her involved in a custody dispute over Rocco with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. 
 
 She eventually lost the case, with the 16-year-old moving to London to live with his father. 
 
 Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. ||||| UPDATE, 11:45 a.m. ET: Contrary to a new report from the Associated Press, Madonna says she has not applied to adopt two more children from Malawi. 
 
 "I am in Malawi to check on the children's hospital in Blantyre and my other work with Raising Malawi, and then heading home," she tells Us Weekly in a statement. "The rumors of an adoption process are untrue.” 
 
 Original story below: 
 
 Her Madgesty is hoping to expand her dynasty. Madonna has applied to adopt two more children from Malawi, the Associated Press reports. 
 
 According to the AP, government spokesman Mlenga Mvula says the 58-year-old superstar appeared before a High Court judge on Wednesday, January 25. The decision to grant Madonna the adoption order remains in the hands of the court. The AP reports that the “Living for Love” singer will have to wait one week before finding out if she is able to move forward with the adoptions. 
 
 The pop diva, who adopted son David and daughter Mercy James, both 11, in 2008 and 2009, respectively, founded her Raising Malawi foundation in 2006 to benefit the orphans and underprivileged children living in the impoverished nation. 
 
 During an October 2006 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Madonna shared why she was inspired to adopt from Malawi. 
 
 “To see 8-year-olds in charge of households. To see mothers dying, with Kaposi's sarcoma lesions all over their bodies. To see open sewages everywhere. To see what I saw. It is a state of emergency. As far as I'm concerned, the adoption laws have to be changed to suit that state of emergency,” she said at the time. “I think if everybody went there, they'd want to bring one of those children home with them and give them a better life." 
 
 The Queen of Pop also told Winfrey about the struggle of adopting a child from the southern African country. 
 
 "I assure you it doesn't matter who you are or how much money you have, nothing goes fast in Africa," she explained. "There are no adoption laws in Malawi. And I was warned by my social worker that because there were no known laws in Malawi, they were more or less going to have to make them up as we went along. And she did say to me, 'Pick Ethiopia. Go to Kenya. Don't go to Malawi because you're just going to get a hard time.'" 
 
 Madonna adopted David with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, whom she divorced in 2008 after eight years of marriage. She shares 16-year-old son Rocco with the British filmmaker too. The Grammy winner is also mom of Lourdes, 20, with ex Carlos Leon. 
 
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 Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now! ||||| FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents in Malawi say Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge during the pop star's successful... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents in Malawi say Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge during the pop star's successful... (Associated Press) FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents... (Associated Press) 
 
 LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge in Malawi during the pop star's successful application to adopt more children from the southern African country, according to a court document obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. 
 
 Judge Fiona Mwale detailed her reasons for letting Madonna adopt the 4-year-old twin girls in a ruling on Tuesday, saying she was satisfied that Madonna "is motivated by her desire to offer a home, love, protection and guidance." 
 
 Madonna, who has two other adopted children from Malawi, previously described reports of a new adoption process as false, saying she was in the country for charity work. But on Wednesday she said in an Instagram post that "I can officially confirm I have completed the process of adopting twin sisters from Malawi and am overjoyed that they are now part of our family." 
 
 The singer filed for adoption in a high court in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, on Jan. 25, court and government officials said. The Associated Press last month reported that she was seeking the adoption, but at the time she denied that any such proceeding was underway. 
 
 "The petitioner is a professional performer and I guarded myself against the danger of her merely reciting a well-rehearsed speech by asking her some rather uncomfortable questions to which she gave very candid answers," Mwale said in her ruling. 
 
 Mwale said she didn't challenge Madonna, 58, on Malawi's residency requirements for adoption, saying the country's Supreme Court of Appeal had addressed the issue in the pop star's previous adoption. 
 
 "In determining her motives, I questioned the petitioner at length about the impact of her decision which could be construed as robbing Malawi of its most precious resource, its children," the judge wrote. 
 
 Madonna said the children will keep their birth names as part of an effort to preserve their identity as Malawians, and a Malawian carer will travel with the children to the United States to ease their transition, according to the ruling. 
 
 The twins were delivered by cesarean section and the mother died within a week because of complications from the birth, the court document said. The children have five older siblings and the father, who was at the Jan. 25 court hearing attended by Madonna, had remarried and was unable to provide for all his dependents, it said. 
 
 In 2006, Madonna founded the charity Raising Malawi to address the poverty and hardship endured by the country's orphans and vulnerable children. 
 
 In 2013, Malawi accused Madonna of exaggerating her contributions to the impoverished country and unreasonably demanding special treatment during a tour there. The pop star denied the accusations. On a visit to Malawi in late 2014, she met newly elected President Peter Mutharika as well as the father of her adopted, Malawi-born son. 
 
 Mwale noted that the pop star has raised $7.5 million for her latest project in Malawi, the construction of a pediatric surgery ward at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. The ward is scheduled to open early next year. ||||| Madonna may have initially denied any plans to adopt two children from Malawi, but her Instagram account told a different story. 
 
 The 58-year-old singer recently adopted 4½-year-old twin girls from Malawi, the country’s judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula confirmed to PEOPLE. And an Instagram photo from July has since resurfaced, showing the little girls with Madonna’s 20-year-old daughter Lourdes. 
 
 She captioned the photo: “3 Beauties! Lola spends time with twins, Stella and Esther at Home of Hope Orphanage.” 
 
 She included several emojis of the Malawi flag. The little girls both donned serious expressions as they cuddled up to Lourdes. The photo was one of many the “Papa Don’t Preach” singer uploaded during a summer trip to the East African country. 
 
 Prior to adopting the little girls, Madonna was already mother to four children: Lourdes, Rocco, 16, David Banda, 11, and Mercy James, 11. 
 
 Mulva told PEOPLE that Madonna appeared in court on Tuesday along with the young children, their father and their uncle. 
 
 She “exuded happiness,” Mulva said of Madonna. She added: “[Madonna] smiled while she was making her way out of the courtroom, and then she drove away” with her new daughters. 
 
 A rep for Madonna did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. 
 
 Both David and Mercy were adopted from Malawi in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The singer has a long history with the people of the country and has worked to fight against poverty plaguing Malawi’s orphaned children for more than 10 years through her charity, Raising Malawi. 
 
 Mulva told PEOPLE that Madonna has “been very close to Malawi” — this year, the charity will build Malawi’s first pediatric surgery and intensive care unit, the Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care. 
 
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 “She has been involved in so many projects and is currently helping to expand the children’s ward at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital,” Mulva continued. 
 
 “So Madonna has been coming to Malawi frequently. So it is not unusual to people in Malawi at all. They know Madonna very well in terms of the high-profile work she has done for the community.”
– Scratch that: Outlets including the BBC and the AP reported that Madonna had applied to adopt two children in Malawi, but the Material Girl has since refuted those reports. "I am in Malawi to check on the children's hospital in Blantyre and my other work with Raising Malawi, and then heading home," she tells Us. "The rumors of an adoption process are untrue." Madonna, 58, flew into Malawi on Tuesday and a government spokesperson had confirmed to the aforementioned news outlets that she appeared in High Court in the country's capital on Wednesday. Citing local reports, the Telegraph said she was seen carrying one child after the hearing, while another person from her group carried a second child. A court spokesperson had also said that the singer, who has already adopted two children from Malawi, would need to wait a week before learning the court's decision. (The Secret Service is rumored to be investigating Madonna.)