The Cult Dossier · No. 144 · Syncretic / Other Nrm

Casa de Dom Inácio

João de Deus; John of God

1970s – 2018 · Abadiânia, Goiás, Brazil

XIII. FILLING THE GAPS — ASIA, AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA

Fully religious — Spiritist healing centre

Who led it

JOÃO TEIXEIRA DE FARIA (b.1942), known as JOÃO DE DEUS, a self-described medium who said he was possessed by the spirits of deceased doctors and saints while performing 'psychic surgery'.

What it worshipped and taught

Brazilian Spiritism (Kardecism) combined with folk Catholicism. Faria performed both 'invisible' surgeries and visible ones — scraping eyeballs with a knife, inserting forceps into nostrils, making incisions without anaesthetic — before large audiences, claiming to be an unconscious vessel for entities. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travelled to Abadiânia, many terminally ill. Oprah Winfrey visited and featured him in 2012, which produced a global surge in visitors.

Who was in it

João Teixeira de Faria; the more than 600 women who came forward in December 2018; his daughter Dalva Teixeira, who publicly said he had raped her from the age of ten; the Brazilian prosecutors of Goiás.

How it ended, or where it stands

CONVICTED MANY TIMES OVER AND BARELY IMPRISONED. Sentences totalling some 489 years were cut to about 214 on appeal in May 2026, largely on time limits rather than on the facts, and he has been under house arrest at Anápolis since 2021.

The dead

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Of note

By volume of complainants — about 600 — this is one of the largest single-perpetrator sexual abuse cases ever recorded anywhere. AND THE ARITHMETIC OF THE 2026 APPEALS IS THE PART WORTH KEEPING: the cases that fell away mostly fell on the clock, not on the evidence, which is what happens when abuse is reported decades late. It received a fraction of the English-language coverage that a comparable North American case would attract, which is precisely the pattern Appendix D describes.

Its timeline

1970s Establishes the Casa de Dom Inácio at Abadiânia.
2012 Featured on Oprah Winfrey's television programme; international pilgrimage surges.
DECEMBER 2018 A Brazilian television programme broadcasts accounts by about a dozen women. MORE THAN 200 COMPLAINTS ARRIVE WITHIN THIRTY HOURS, from nine Brazilian states and abroad, and the total eventually reaches ABOUT 600, covering conduct from 1986 to 2017.
16 December 2018 Surrenders to police.
2019–2020 CONVICTED IN MULTIPLE SEPARATE TRIALS of RAPE OF A VULNERABLE PERSON and RAPE THROUGH FRAUD, against eight named victims, for conduct between 2010 and 2018. Initial sentences total 270 YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS.
2023 FURTHER SENTENCES TAKE THE TOTAL PAST 480 YEARS — among the longest ever imposed on one person anywhere. The reporting of the running total varies between outlets and this file gives the range rather than a false precision.
2019 Also convicted of illegal firearms possession; investigations into land and gold holdings follow.
2020–2021 onward Released to HOUSE ARREST on age and health grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic and held that way at ANÁPOLIS with an electronic tag, barred from Abadiânia and from approaching his victims. Complainants objected publicly.
5 MAY 2026 THE SENTENCE IS CUT BY MORE THAN HALF ON APPEAL, WHICH THIS FILE PREVIOUSLY DID NOT RECORD. Appeals across eighteen prosecutions reduce the total from about 489 YEARS TO ABOUT 214. Much of the reduction is not a finding of innocence but of TIME: in many cases the courts held that the period for the victims to bring a complaint had expired. Convictions covering 67 VICTIMS stand; cases involving about 121 OTHERS were extinguished on such grounds. HE REMAINS UNDER HOUSE ARREST AT ANÁPOLIS, NOT IN PRISON.

Its people

João Teixeira de Faria

João de Deus; John of God

Founder, Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola · born 24 June 1942 · active 1970s–2018

A Brazilian medium who claimed to be an unconscious vessel for the spirits of dead doctors and saints, and who performed both 'invisible' and visible surgeries before large audiences — scraping eyeballs with a knife, inserting forceps into nostrils, making incisions without anaesthetic. Oprah Winfrey visited and featured him in 2012, which produced a global surge in visitors. In December 2018 a television broadcast carrying the accounts of ten women was followed within days by more than 600 women contacting prosecutors. His own daughter, Dalva Teixeira, publicly said he had raped her from the age of ten. The convictions that followed are among the longest ever handed down to a single person anywhere.

Before the law. CONVICTED across multiple trials; TOTAL SENTENCE 370 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AND 15 DAYS for rape of a vulnerable person and rape through fraud against eight named victims. Appeals remain available. More than 600 women contacted prosecutors in total — only a fraction were charged.

Where things stand. Imprisoned in Goiás. By volume of complainants this is among the largest single-perpetrator sexual abuse cases ever recorded anywhere, and it received a fraction of the English-language coverage a comparable North American case would attract.

1970s Establishes the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola at Abadiânia, Goiás.
2012 Featured on Oprah Winfrey's programme; international pilgrimage surges.
DECEMBER 2018 A Brazilian television programme broadcasts ten women's accounts. WITHIN DAYS MORE THAN 600 WOMEN CONTACT PROSECUTORS. His daughter Dalva Teixeira says publicly that he raped her from the age of ten.
16 December 2018 Surrenders to police.
2019–2020 CONVICTED IN A SERIES OF SEPARATE TRIALS of rape of a vulnerable person and rape through fraud, against eight victims, for conduct between 2010 and 2018. Initial convictions total 270 YEARS AND 4 MONTHS.
JULY 2023 SENTENCED TO A FURTHER 99 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AND 15 DAYS. HIS TOTAL SENTENCE REACHES 370 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AND 15 DAYS.
2019 Also convicted of illegal firearms possession; separate investigations open into his land and gold holdings.
2020–2023
FEBRUARY 2024 onward REPORTED IMPRISONED at the Aparecida de Goiânia prison complex in Goiás. All convictions remain subject to appeal.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

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