In a revelation challenging the Catholic Church’s stance on in-vitro fertilization (IVF), it was unveiled that the Vatican played a pivotal role in the development of a groundbreaking drug enabling assisted reproduction. A recent Vanity Fair exposé by journalist Keziah Weir unearthed a fascinating tale from 1957. Austrian endocrinologist Bruno Lunenfeld, with the blessing of Pope Pius XII, embarked on a unique research endeavor. Lunenfeld, seeking to extract a crucial hormone, human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG), turned to an unconventional source: postmenopausal nuns. Under the guidance of Don Giulio Pacelli, a prominent member of Serono’s board and the pope’s nephew, around a hundred nuns donated their urine, providing the necessary raw material for Lunenfeld’s research. This collaboration resulted in the production of 9,000 vials of hMG, facilitating 450 ovulation induction cycles. The results of Lunenfeld’s labor didn’t stop there. In 1962, a previously infertile woman treated with hMG gave birth, marking a breakthrough in assisted reproduction. This paved the way for the development of the drug Pergonal, instrumental in the first successful IVF pregnancy in the U.S. in 1981. While Serono discontinued Pergonal in 2004, a similar drug continues to be utilized, highlighting the enduring legacy of the Vatican’s unexpected contribution to the field of IVF. It is ironic that the Catholic Church now opposes the procedure it helped make possible.
