The Pope Paul VI Institute is the only Catholic Institution of its type in the United States and perhaps the world that has dedicated its services to the development of morally and professionally acceptable reproductive health services. The Institute is nationally and internationally recognized for its major accomplishments, including the Creighton Model Fertility Care™ System (CrMS), the official language of a woman's health and fertility and the new women's health science, NaProTECHNOLOGY.

The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction was built in 1985 as a direct response to the appeal by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae, issued in July 1968. This encyclical addressed Church teaching in the areas of married love and fertility regulation. This was based on a theology of marriage and the family and on an understanding of the human and spiritual dimensions of conjugal love. It was based on the fundamental principle that love and life should never be separated.

Pope Paul VI called "men of science" and "physicians and health care professionals" to "persevere, therefore, in promoting on every occasion the discovery of solutions inspired by faith and right reason..." He recognized the imbalance between theological teachings and the availability of reliable and morally acceptable methods of family planning. Scientific advances in the natural means for the regulation of human fertility were needed if couples were to live out these teachings with success and joy.

Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers responded to this call. He began research in December 1968 as a medical student. After residency, he established research centers at St. Louis University and Creighton University Schools of Medicine. To carry on this research, he and his wife Sue founded the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, a decision they made on the day of Pope Paul VI's death, August 6, 1978. The Institute opened on September 1, 1985. At the Pope Paul VI Institute, a segment of America's medical community has answered the challenge of Humanae Vitae.