In Brazil, a boy named Mattheus was healed from a serious birth defect called an annular pancreas after he and his mother asked Acutis to pray for his healing. ... Mattheus was born in 2009 with a serious condition that caused him difficulty eating and serious abdominal pain. He was unable to keep any food in his stomach, and vomited constantly. ... Fr. Nicola Gori, the priest responsible for promoting Acutis’ sainthood cause, told Italian media what happened next: “On October 12, 2013, seven years after Carlo's death, a child, affected by a congenital malformation (annular pancreas), when it was his turn to touch the picture of the future blessed, expressed a singular wish, like a prayer: 'I wish I could stop vomiting so much.' Healing began immediately, to the point that the physiology of the organ in question changed,” Fr. Gori said.
-- Catholic News Agency, October 12, 2021, here.
When Matheus got home, he ate beef and French fries and did not vomit afterward. His mother later testified that this was the first time in his entire life that this happened.
At the next ultrasound scan, the doctor confirmed that the morphology of the pancreas has completely changed and become normal. One doctor declared that it was now a textbook pancreas, an organ that was so perfect that it looked unreal. When Father Tenório saw Matheus’ tests, he reported the facts to the postulator of the beatification of Carlo Acutis.
-- Catholic Stand, December 28, 2021, here.
An abdominal X-ray of a patient with an annular pancreas will show the double-bubble sign, indicative of duodenal obstruction. Ultrasound, which is the first-line examination in the investigation of abdominal pain in children, reveals a fluid-distended duodenum and can identify the second duodenal portion incarcerated by pancreatic tissue. On computed tomography, pancreatic tissue surrounding the duodenum can also be seen. In most cases, endoscopy is also performed.
However, it should be borne in mind that even if the radiological and endoscopic findings both suggest an annular pancreas, the definitive diagnosis is established only during surgery. In patients with symptoms of obstruction, laparotomy can reveal a band of pancreatic tissue surrounding the second portion of the duodenum, supporting the diagnostic hypothesis, which can be confirmed by examining the resected specimen.
-- Radiologia Brasileira 52 (4), Jul-Aug 2019, here.
The subject underwent only ultrasound. The diagnosis of annular pancreas was never certain in the first place.
John of God 'monster' making millions with barbaric surgery and 'blessed' pills
The controversial John Faria has worked as a celebrity faith healer for the last four decades in a small town in central Brazil, becoming widely known as John of God.
He became famous for conducting "psychic surgeries" that he said could cure diseases, including cancer. Thousands of Australians, many terminally ill or suffering from debilitating sicknesses, have reportedly visited Mr Faria's compound deep in Brazil's interior.
Mr Faria's critics have argued the faith healer is nothing more than a charlatan, fleecing the vulnerable for millions of dollars.
One of the accusers is Mr Faria's adult daughter, Dalva Teixeira. She called him a "monster", while others have claimed he molested them as children. Mr Faria has strenuously denied the allegations of more than 300 accusers.
Oprah Winfrey famously visited Mr Faria in 2012 to feature him in an episode of her massively popular worldwide syndicated show. Afterwards, Mr Faria's questionable star rocketed to dangerous new heights.
In a since-deleted column on oprah.com, Winfrey wrote that she was overwhelmed by the experience of seeing Mr Faria cut into the breast of a woman without anaesthesia and that she left feeling "an overwhelming sense of peace".
Yesterday, in a statement to Reuters, Winfrey said: "I empathise with the women now coming forward and hope justice is served."
Oprah's peaceful experience watching Mr Faria wield his scalpel was markedly different to Australian reporter Michael Usher, who along with a 60 Minutes crew was invited inside the self-styled healer's compound in 2014.
Usher said it was hugely unsettling to watch Mr Faria use scalpels to slice open peoples' flesh or scrape away at their eyeballs, none of it done with an anaesthetic. That Mr Faria would shove scissors down the noses of ill people who sought his help left Usher distressed.
"John of God is not a surgeon, he is not a trained doctor," Usher said after the 60 Minutes segment aired.
"Yet he is presented with a tray of medical instruments, scalpels and all sorts of scissors. He takes a scalpel and scrapes eyes. He sticks knives and scalpels of some sort down the back of people's throats. He shoves scissors down people's noses, and he claims he is getting to tumours. He claims he is getting to the root of people's illness. He claims he is getting to what is making people ill or sick. None of it is done with an anaesthetic and you don't even know if what he is using is sterile."
According to 60 Minutes, Mr Faria's faith healing compound, which has been visited by supermodel Naomi Campbell and Brazilian footballer Ronaldo, has made tens of millions of dollars. In 2014, a Fairfax report stated 18,000 Australians had journeyed to see Faria. The self-styled healer has claimed to have treated millions of people.
John of God has boasted he is blessed with healing powers from a divine "Entity". He claimed the entity can cure the blind, the paraplegic, the cancer-stricken and other illnesses.
"I can understand why people search for spirituality," Usher said of the thousands flocking to Mr Faria, despite long-circulating rumours of sexual abuse and his unscientific and barbaric medical techniques.
"I can understand people's faith. I understand how powerful hope is. What I cannot tolerate is someone like John Faria taking advantage of people who only have hope left."
Located in Abadiania, 130km south-west of the capital city of Brasilia, Mr Faria's compound, Casa de Dom Inacio, is filled with people from Brazil and hopeful visitors from around the world wearing all white. Neutral clothing makes the wearer more open to healing energy, according to believers.
Usher said there were no miracles to be found in the compound, just exploitation.
Meeting John of God is free. But he has built a multi-million-dollar enterprise through other strategies.
On the compound he prescribes his visitors sessions on crystal beds, which cost $25 per session. The crystal beds, which appear to be a kind of sunbed projecting light through crystals, are believed to earn Mr Faria $1.8 million a year.
Blessed water is sold for $1 in standard plastic bottles. From a Faria-run pharmacy, blessed herbal pills are selling for $25 a bottle. It is estimated the blessed pill generates $40,000 a day, more than $14 million in a year.
An Australian doctor who travelled with 60 Minutes tested the pills, which he found to be simple passionflower herbal supplements.
When Usher sat down with Mr Faria, several of the faith healer's minders stood close by. Asked if his practice was more about money than miracles, the interview was quickly shut down. Walking away from the cameras, Mr Faria ignored questions about alleged sexual abuse.
The most recent allegations which led to Mr Faria handing himself into police surfaced last week.
Several individuals appeared on Brazilian Globo Television show to recount charges that he had been sexually violent with them or relatives. After that, authorities were contacted by more than 300 other accusers, including de Faria's adult daughter, Dalva Teixeira.
In an interview published by Brazilian magazine Veja, Ms Teixeira said that under the pretense of mystical treatments he abused and raped his daughter between the ages of 10 and 14.
She said her father stopped after she became pregnant by one of his employees. Ms Teixeira said she was beaten so severely by her father that she suffered a miscarriage.
"My father is a monster," she said.
It is unknown how many Australians, if any, may have lodged complaints with Brazilian police or could have been potentially abused by him.
One of Mr Faria's biggest supporters is an Australian man named Robert Pellegrino-Estrich.
In 2000, Mr Pellegrino-Estrich wrote The Miracle Man, a book documenting the supposed healing powers of Mr Faria. The book, said to be available in 16 languages, is seen as being instrumental in raising awareness of Mr Faria around the world.
Mr Pellegrino-Estrich currently lives in Brazil, and he has for many years been paid by Australians who use his travel advisory services to assist their visit to Faria's centre.
Nine.com.au contacted Mr Pellegrino-Estrich for comment, but he did not respond.
Australians have not always had to make the pilgrimage to Brazil to meet Mr Faria.
In 2014, despite concerns from NSW Fair Trading, the John of God roadshow rolled into Sydney, where an estimated 6000 people paid $295 for a day ticket, or $795 for the full three-day experience.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/john-of-god-inside-faith-healers-compound-psychic-surgery/e201d8c6-2090-46a7-aa2f-78b84c1e520c
