Native name | Farmacia Vaticana |
---|---|
Company type | Pharmacy |
Founded | 1874 |
Headquarters | |
Products | Drugs, Cosmetics |
Number of employees | 69 |
Website |
www |
The Vatican Pharmacy ( Latin and Italian: Farmacia Vaticana) is the only pharmacy in the Vatican City, founded in 1874 by Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli religious. [1] According to Vatican sources, it is the busiest pharmacy in the world, with 2,000 customers per day. [1] Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican for medicines that are not available in Italy or are difficult to find. [2]
The current director of the pharmacy is Binish Thomas Mulackal, a Fatebenefratelli monk. [1] 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). [3] The pharmacy is organized under the Directorate of Health Services, one of eight Vatican City directorates. [4]
The pharmacy was founded in 1874, at the height of the " Roman Question", when Cardinal Secretary of State Giacomo Antonelli 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. [1] Popes had been confined to the Vatican since an 1870 dispute with the Italian government, when Rome was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy. [1]
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. [1] In 1917, the pharmacy was moved to St. Anne's Gate, closer to the main entrance of the Vatican. [1] At the time, the Vatican pharmacy was immensely popular for offering medicines which were otherwise unobtainable within Rome. [1] 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. [1]
After the Lateran treaties 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. [1] Unlike Italian pharmacies, the Vatican Pharmacy will fill foreign prescriptions. [5]
Non-Vatican employees must obtain a temporary pass from a special registry office, and have a prescription and ID to use the pharmacy. [1] The 10,000 members of the Vatican's private health care plan possess a permanent pass to use the pharmacy. [1]
As Vatican City has no taxes, the pharmacy is duty-free. [1]
The pharmacy carries 42,000 products, [2] but it does not carry products which are contrary to Catholic social teaching, such as contraceptives or abortifacients. [1] Nor does the pharmacy carry sildenafil (Viagra) [6] or medical marijuana. [7] However, the pharmacy does carry "top-brand beauty-care products" and perfume. [1] Its prices for many items are between 12 and 25 percent lower than the prices of the same products in nearby Italian drug stores. [1] The pharmacy also produces some of the ointments and potions it sells.
Native name | Farmacia Vaticana |
---|---|
Company type | Pharmacy |
Founded | 1874 |
Headquarters | |
Products | Drugs, Cosmetics |
Number of employees | 69 |
Website |
www |
The Vatican Pharmacy ( Latin and Italian: Farmacia Vaticana) is the only pharmacy in the Vatican City, founded in 1874 by Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli religious. [1] According to Vatican sources, it is the busiest pharmacy in the world, with 2,000 customers per day. [1] Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican for medicines that are not available in Italy or are difficult to find. [2]
The current director of the pharmacy is Binish Thomas Mulackal, a Fatebenefratelli monk. [1] 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). [3] The pharmacy is organized under the Directorate of Health Services, one of eight Vatican City directorates. [4]
The pharmacy was founded in 1874, at the height of the " Roman Question", when Cardinal Secretary of State Giacomo Antonelli 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. [1] Popes had been confined to the Vatican since an 1870 dispute with the Italian government, when Rome was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy. [1]
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. [1] In 1917, the pharmacy was moved to St. Anne's Gate, closer to the main entrance of the Vatican. [1] At the time, the Vatican pharmacy was immensely popular for offering medicines which were otherwise unobtainable within Rome. [1] 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. [1]
After the Lateran treaties 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. [1] Unlike Italian pharmacies, the Vatican Pharmacy will fill foreign prescriptions. [5]
Non-Vatican employees must obtain a temporary pass from a special registry office, and have a prescription and ID to use the pharmacy. [1] The 10,000 members of the Vatican's private health care plan possess a permanent pass to use the pharmacy. [1]
As Vatican City has no taxes, the pharmacy is duty-free. [1]
The pharmacy carries 42,000 products, [2] but it does not carry products which are contrary to Catholic social teaching, such as contraceptives or abortifacients. [1] Nor does the pharmacy carry sildenafil (Viagra) [6] or medical marijuana. [7] However, the pharmacy does carry "top-brand beauty-care products" and perfume. [1] Its prices for many items are between 12 and 25 percent lower than the prices of the same products in nearby Italian drug stores. [1] The pharmacy also produces some of the ointments and potions it sells.