A Philadelphia family has credited the miraculous shrinking of their baby's rare and inoperable brain tumor to a kiss from Pope Francis. The miraculous incident occurred after doctors had told the couple that their 1-year-old daughter, Gianna, had only months to live.
Kristen and Joey Masciantonio from Warrington Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said last week that their baby's inoperable brain tumor reduced in size dramatically after a kiss on head from Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia in September, CBS Philadelphia reports.
Kristen and Joey Masciantonio say they have MRI scans to prove the claim that Gianna, their daughter, recieved a divine touch after the encounter with Pope Francis on September 26.
Kristen says that an MRI scan of their daughter's brain tumor taken in November, after the papal kiss, shows a dramatic reduction in the size of the tumor compared with an MRI scan taken in August before the kiss.
Doctors had told the couple that the tumor, caused by Gianna's blood cells attacking her brain stem soon after birth, was inoperable.
The little girl had gone through a series of chemotherapy sessions without success, and doctors had given up hope, saying that Gianna probably had only months to live.
"They [doctors] said go home, enjoy the last weeks, maybe months, that you have with her," Joey said, according to Philly.
According to the Masciantonios, an FBI friend, Donny Asper, tipped them off that Pope Francis would be passing through James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse on Market Street near 7th after delivering an address at Independence Hall on September 26.
