John of God

João Teixeira de Faria, known also as João de Deus, is a Brazilian purported medium, "psychic surgeon" and convicted sex offender. He was based in Abadiânia, Brazil, where he ran the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, a "spiritual healing center". He has received media coverage on CNN, ABC News and The Oprah Winfrey Show, amongst others. James Randi and Joe Nickell have exposed his healing procedures as involving nothing more than carnival tricks, and there is no evidence that the benefits that have been reported by patients are anything more than placebo effects..