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A priest in Indiana says he was cured of a brain tumor after he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in June 2022.
"I just wanted to make a video really quickly to let everybody know that I actually was healed of my brain tumor in Lourdes," Fr. John Hollowell said in a video he posted on his YouTube channel on Monday, Jan. 30.
Lourdes is a popular pilgrimage site for many believers. While the Catholic Church has recognized 70 healings from Lourdes as miraculous, thousands of other people have reported inexplicable cures of their ailments, the Lourdes shrine's website notes.
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Hollowell, a priest in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in Feb. 2020, he shared in his video.
He underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to treat the tumor.
Tumor ‘starting to grow back’
Despite the extensive treatments, Hollowell said that things were trending downward for him before he made his trip to France.
Fr. John Hollowell of Indianapolis, Indiana, announced his recovery from a brain tumor in a YouTube video. (Fr. John Hollowell)
"I had a pretty negative MRI about two-and-a-half months before I left for Lourdes," he said in the video (SEE his YouTube video, just below).
"The MRI showed that [the tumor] was starting to grow back … The MRI that I had also had found a tumor on my pituitary gland, as well," he said.
Hollowell first announced that he had been healed in a homily he delivered to his parish following his trip to Lourdes.
"Like Naaman the Syrian in our first reading, who washed and was cleansed from leprosy in the Jordan, I washed in the river at Lourdes and was cured," said Hollowell in an Oct. 28, 2022 homily that was published on his blog.
"And like the leper who returns to give thanks, I want to publicly thank Jesus for healing me," he wrote.
Hollowell told Fox News Digital that he first began noticing physical changes immediately upon his return from France.
"I felt a lot stronger when I got back from Lourdes," he said via email. "Friends, family and parishioners told me that I looked a lot healthier."
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Additionally, his cognitive ability improved, he said.
"When I got back from Lourdes, I could preach without a prepared text again," he continued, sharing that he had needed written texts before his trip to France.
A statue of the Virgin Mary stands in the niche where Catholics believe she appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Fr. John Hollowell of Indiana believes he was healed of his brain tumor after he visited Lourdes. (Christine Rousselle/Fox News Digital)
Following an MRI on Nov. 3, 2022, Hollowell said he was told that his tumor "may never grow back" and that "all that is showing up on the MRI is scar tissue from your initial brain surgery."
‘Some cross I could carry'
At the time of his diagnosis, Hollowell made news for proclaiming that he would be offering up the pain he endured during his treatment as a form of redemptive suffering for victims of clerical sexual abuse.
"I want to thank Jesus for the gift not just of my healing but also the gift of the tumor surgeries, radiation and chemo as well."
"When the scandals of 2018 broke out, most of you know that they have affected me deeply, as they have most of the church," Hollowell wrote in a blog posted on Feb. 16, 2020, in which he announced his diagnosis.
"I prayed in 2018 that if there was some suffering I could undertake on behalf of all the victims, some cross I could carry, I would welcome that. I feel like this is that cross, and I embrace it willingly," he said in the blog.
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Hollowell requested that survivors of priestly abuse contact him so that he could pray for them by name during his recovery process.
Approximately 170 survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse reached out to him, he told Fox News Digital.
Fr. Hollowell remembered victims of clergy abuse by name as he went into his brain surgery, he said. (istock)
"I was able to take all the names in with me to that surgery," he continued.
"So I made the video mostly for the victim survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse, just to let them know that I had been healed."
Hollowell said that his brain tumor "was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me."
He said in an October blog post, "I want to thank Jesus for the gift not just of my healing but also the gift of the tumor surgeries, radiation and chemo as well."
"Almost nothing in my life is the same since my surgeries, radiation and chemo," he also wrote, "and I have realized that all those differences in my life since the surgeries, radiation and chemo have been blessings."
"I was OK if I died – I was willing to make the sacrifice for victims of Catholic clergy abuse."
And while Hollowell was offering up his suffering during treatment for the victims of Catholic clerical sexual abuse, he "realized that the number-one person God used my suffering to help has been me."
Meaningful date of diagnosis
Hollowell admitted he "didn't have much devotion to" Our Lady of Lourdes before his diagnosis — but the two would become linked throughout his cancer journey.
He was diagnosed on Feb. 11, 2020. That's the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette Soubirous.
In 1858, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared multiple times before a 14-year-old girl, St. Bernadette Soubirous, at the Massabielle grotto on the left bank of a steam, according to Britannica.
Pope Pius IX in 1862 declared the vision authentic.
"I felt a lot stronger when I got back from Lourdes," Fr. Hollowell of Indianapolis said. "Friends, family and parishioners told me that I looked a lot healthier." (Fr. Hollowell/iStock)
The evening of his diagnosis, Hollowell told Fox News Digital that he "was able to have Mass up at the Mayo Clinic in the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes."
‘I was there, and I was healed’
Ahead of his trip to Lourdes, Hollowell did not necessarily expect to be healed in the physical sense. Yet he hoped that his suffering would be able to do some spiritual good.
"I was OK if I died — I was willing to make the sacrifice for victims of Catholic clergy abuse. But I thought, ‘Well, if I go to Lourdes, and I’m healed there, then that might have an impact on some of my fallen-away family and friends,'" he said in the January video.
Pilgrims in Lourdes, France, are shown lining up at the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. (Christine Rousselle/Fox News Digital)
"I went there, and I was healed — and yes, just thanks be to God," Hollowell continued in the video.
Medical insights
One New York-based doctor offered his professional medical opinion — and his belief in the power of prayer.
"I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe in miracle cures and I believe in Lourdes," Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor and a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News Digital.
"Great surgery, great chemo — and the power of prayer."
"But [with] this particular tumor, there is about a 74% five-year survival rate, depending on what grade it is," Dr. Siegel added.
"And Hollowell] had surgery and chemotherapy, so it’s not surprising to me that [the tumor] is gone."
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Noting that the type of tumor Hollowell had is not "the most severe of all brain tumors," Siegel also said that it "can be cured."
X-ray or MRI brain scan (unrelated to Fr. Hollowell's case) with glitch effect shown above. The type of tumor that Hollowell was diagnosed with "can be cured," said Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News medical contributor. (iStock)
"If you ask me if being someone [whom] God smiles on plays a role in recovery — it does," he also said.
However, added Dr. Siegel, who did not treat Fr. Hollowell, "I don’t think it’s all Lourdes in this case. But I do think doctors have the hands of God — that’s a well-known saying. Great surgery, great chemo — and the power of prayer."
Faith voices weigh in
Other faith leaders shared their thoughts on the possibility of a miraculous healing from God.
"Jesus' healing of our physical bodies is rooted in his crucifixion."
"As we read through the gospels, we find that every place that Jesus went, he did three things," Ohio-based Rabbi Kirt Schneider, author of "Messianic Prophecy Today" and host of the television program, "Discovering the Jewish Jesus," told Fox News Digital via email.
"He preached the gospel, he healed the sick and he cast out tormenting spirits," Rabbi Schneider added.
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"Matthew 8:17 says that Jesus healed them to fulfill the book of Isaiah 53:4, which is about Yeshua's crucifixion," he also said.
"In other words, Jesus' healing of our physical bodies is rooted in his crucifixion, which provides a solution for both our sin and our sickness."
"I rejoice that God is manifesting his supernatural power in ways that are, quite simply, undeniable," said Alex McFarland of Alex McFarland Ministries in Greensboro, North Carolina. (iStock)
Alex McFarland, leader of Alex McFarland Ministries in Greensboro, North Carolina, also shared a faith perspective.
"Fr. John Hollowell reports that God has miraculously healed him from a brain tumor — this is cause for rejoicing and should be a source of hope for all people," McFarland told Fox News Digital via email.
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"I believe the American church must get reacquainted with the supernatural power of God," he added.
"The God of Christianity is the God who can heal. Our God is the source of life, and also the one to whom we turn for physical and spiritual healing."
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McFarland also said, "At a time when skepticism and atheism are reported to be growing, I rejoice that God is manifesting his supernatural power in ways that are, quite simply, undeniable."
