An Indiana priest says his brain tumor was cured after a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in June of last year. In a video on his YouTube channel, Fr. John Hollowell said, “I just wanted to make a video really quickly to let everybody know that I actually was healed of my brain tumor in Lourdes.”

Lourdes is a common pilgrimage site for believers. The Catholic Church has recognized 70 healings from Lourdes as wondrous. According to the Lourdes shrine’s website notes, thousands of others have reported mystifying cures of ailments. A priest in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Hollowell was diagnosed with a brain tumor in February of 2020, according to his video. He endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to treat the tumor.

Despite the treatments, Hollowell said things were trending in the wrong direction before his trip to France. Hollowell said, “I had a pretty negative MRI about two and a half months before I left for Lourdes. The MRI showed that the tumor was starting to grow back. The MRI that I had also found a tumor on my pituitary gland.”

Hollowell first announced his healing in a sermon he delivered to his parish after his trip to Lourdes. He wrote, “And like the leper who returns to give thanks, I want to publicly thank Jesus for healing me.” Hollowell said he started noticing physical changes as soon as he returned from his trip. He said, “I felt a lot stronger when I got back from Lourdes. Friends, family, and parishioners told me that I looked a lot healthier.”

Hollowell said his cognitive ability also improved, saying, “When I got back from Lourdes, I could preach without a prepared text again,” adding that he needed written texts before his trip to France. After an MRI in November of 2022, Hollowell said doctors told him his tumor might never grow back, and all the MRI showed was scar tissue from his initial brain surgery.

When Hollowell was diagnosed, he made news for stating that he would offer the pain he went through during his treatment as a form of redemptive suffering for victims of clerical sexual abuse. At the time of his diagnosis, he wrote in a blog post, “When the scandals of 2018 broke out, most of you know that they have affected me deeply, as they have most of the church. 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.” Hollowell said that 170 abuse victims reached out to him.

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.” He also wrote, “Almost nothing in my life is the same since my surgeries, radiation and chemo, and I have realized that all those differences in my life since the surgeries, radiation and chemo have been blessings.”