A PRIEST says Jesus saved his life when bandits shot him in the chest – and the bullet ricocheted off his crucifix.
Father Jairo Luis Gusberti was stopped at gunpoint by a pair of carjackers whilst driving two parishioners home through the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) neighbourhood of southern Brazil.
As the crooks approached the car, one of them fired at point-blank range through the windscreen and hit Father Jairo in the chest.
But instead of killing him instantly, the impact of the bullet was partially stopped by the metal crucifix that Father Jairo wears around his neck, and only caused a slight flesh wound.
It was a few minutes before the priest realised he had been wounded.
Father Jairo told local media: “I was protected by God; that’s the testimony I want to give.
“In fact, the crucifix, the cross of Christ that already saved us when he gave his life for us, saved me last night, too.”
He was taken to hospital and the doctors removed the bullet from his chest. The crucifix was said to have ensured that he only suffered a surface wound.
According to reports, without the crucifix, the bullet would have gone much deeper and proved fatal.
He was discharged from hospital a few hours later, after the doctors strapped up his small wound.
Father Jairo also told local media: “In this area, the bullet caught part of the heart, the lower part and would also have pierced the lungs. I was born again.”
While he is recovering, the Father added that he has been praying for the carjackers that shot at him.
“I pray for those who carried out this operation. So that God’s love touches them.”
Pictures taken after the attack show that the wood in the crucifix had been shattered, with the metal twisted but otherwise intact.
The crumpled bullet can be seem underneath the cross in Father Jairo’s hand.
It is unclear if the police have made any arrests as of yet.
This, though, is not the first time an act of God has saved a life.
World War One soldier Leonard Knight was just 17-years-old when the pocket Bible his aunt gave him saved his life.
Knight had been carrying the book in the breast pocket of his uniform when German bullets struck into his chest.
The bullets penetrated the front cover, but were stopped by the thickness of the Bible, and Knight survived without a scratch.
