Updated

An Italian woman will be artificially inseminated with the sperm of her comatose husband, despite criticism from the Vatican, Agence France-Presse reported.

Dr. Severino Antinori extracted the sperm Tuesday from the man and will try to impregnate the woman in about a month, he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The man is suffering from brain cancer, which put him in the coma. The couple, who learned about the diagnosis last month, made the decision to have children then.

“I decided to act because. . . there’s a woman who wants to become a mother to overcome the immense sadness,” Antinori told the newspaper.

Antinori claimed he is protected by a court ruling, and a law, which allows assisted procreation, however, a Vatican prelate said the idea is “illegal.”

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