The Vatican Pharmacy (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and it, ) is the only

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

in the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, founded in 1874 by Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli religious. According to Vatican sources, it is the busiest pharmacy in the world, with 2,000 customers per day.Glatz, Carol. 2008, May 23.
World's busiest pharmacy? Vatican drugstore offers cut-rate prices
" ''Catholic News Service''. Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican for medicines that are not available in Italy or are difficult to find. The current director of the pharmacy is Binish Thomas Mulackal, a Fatebenefratelli monk. Although the director of the pharmacy has always been a monk of that order, the staff pharmacists have been lay people for the past 30 years (7 religious and 53 laypeople in 2014). The pharmacy is organized under the Directorate of Health Services, one of eight Vatican City directorates.

History

The pharmacy was founded in 1874, at the height of the " Roman Question", when

Cardinal Secretary of State The Secretary of State of His Holiness (Latin: Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae, it, Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità), commonly known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, presides over the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is the ...

Giacomo Antonelli Giacomo Antonelli (2 April 1806 – 6 November 1876) was an Italian cardinal deacon. He was the Cardinal Secretary of State from 1848 until his death; he played a key role in Italian politics, resisting the unification of Italy and affectin ...

asked Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli monk, who ran a nearby pharmacy, to take charge of supplying medicines for the pope and cardinals residing in the Vatican. Popes had been confined to the Vatican since an 1870 dispute with the Italian government, when

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy. The pharmacy remained only a storeroom until 1892, when a permanent office was established to offer healthcare services to the pope, cardinals, and bishops of the Vatican. In 1917, the pharmacy was moved to St. Anne's Gate, closer to the main entrance of the Vatican. At the time, the Vatican pharmacy was immensely popular for offering medicines which were otherwise unobtainable within Rome. Even today, due to the complicated bureaucratic drug approval process of the Italian government, the pharmacy often has medicines months to years before Italian pharmacies. After the

Lateran treaties The Lateran Treaty ( it, Patti Lateranensi; la, Pacta Lateranensia) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle t ...

of 1929, the pharmacy was moved to its current location in Palazzo Belvedere, behind the Vatican central post office and across from the Vatican supermarket. Unlike Italian pharmacies, the Vatican Pharmacy will fill foreign prescriptions.

Eligibility

Non-Vatican employees must obtain a temporary pass from a special registry office, and have a prescription and ID to use the pharmacy. The 10,000 members of the Vatican's private health care plan possess a permanent pass to use the pharmacy. As

has no taxes, the pharmacy is

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

Stock

The pharmacy carries 42,000 products, but it does not carry products which are contrary to Catholic social teaching, such as contraceptives or

abortifacient An abortifacient ("that which will cause a miscarriage" from Latin: ''abortus'' "miscarriage" and '' faciens'' "making") is a substance that induces abortion. This is a nonspecific term which may refer to any number of substances or medications, ...

s. Nor does the pharmacy carry sildenafil (Viagra) or

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...

.''CWNews''. 2002, May 23.
No Medical Marijuana at Vatican Pharmacy
." However, the pharmacy does carry "top-brand beauty-care products" and

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

. Its prices for many items are between 12 and 25 percent lower than the prices of the same products in nearby

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

drug stores. The pharmacy also produces some of the ointments and potions it sells.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 41, 54, 17.24, N, 012, 27, 22.3, E, region:VA_type:landmark, display=title Economy of Vatican City Pharmacies in Vatican City Retail companies established in 1874 1874 establishments in Vatican City

History

Eligibility

Stock

See also

References

External links