No sin, only synth…praise the Lord!(Image: Getty Images)If we told you that there’s a priest who spreads the word of God through techno music and that they played a banging set at Christ The Redeemer, you’d probably think we’d taken something at a rave.
Though, this is no acid-infused trip, not a fever dream nor a plot devised by AI. Before his passing, Pope Francis approved of one Portuguese priest to mix Catholic messaging with some dutty, dutty beats – although we’re not sure that’s how the late pontiff would have put it.
Since receiving his blessing (quite literally) from the Vatican, Padre Guilherme has married his passion for the church and spinning decks together on the global stage – including playing a set to 1.5million Catholics.
DJ Padre Guilherme is an approved beat dropper of the Vatican(Image: World Youth Day)Here, we take a look at how one holy man’s pursuit for blasting out tunes and blessings has made him one of the hottest DJs of the moment.
But, it’s no surprise he’s found success when he had his headphones blessed by Pope Francis…
Who is the Padre Guilherme Peixoto?
Guilherme Peixoto, is a parish priest (or padre) in the Archdiocese of Braga, a village in Northern Portugal. The 50-year-old is also a military chaplain, with the position of Lieutenant Colonel in the Diocese of the Armed and Security Forces.
He joined a seminary at the age of 13 and then became a priest at the age of 24, with reports suggesting his strong sense of faith is owed to him being unwell as a child and his family’s prayers seeing him through.
Despite being a busy man with his religious duties, Guilherme has always shown a keen interest in music but never thought of it as a career.
Guilherme Peixoto is priest by day, DJ by night(Image: padre.guilherme/Instagram )However, it wasn’t until that his church faced closure due to mounting debt in the late 2010s, which was further pushed by Covid in 2020, that he finally put his love of tunes to good use.
Desperate to save his parish, he started to mix rock music at karaoke fundraisers after realising parishioners were tired of not having much luck with bake sales and door-knocking campaigns.
After a couple of years mixing music from his laptop as the church choir sang, the church was saved and Guilherme found himself unwilling to put the ‘decks’ down.
Yes, this is a real image. Not AI(Image: World Youth Day)This was when he started professional DJ sessions. While some found his techno mass sessions “strange” at first, Guilherme quickly built up a local fanbase.
He goes by the stage name DJ Padre Guilherme.
Families and younger people would come to church to dance and mingle until 3am, with the night being orchestrated by a fist bumping Guilherme on stage. Noticing how he’d managed to spread the word of God through the vibrations of EDM (electronic Dance Music), Guilherme started to play sets away from his local parish.
Not your usual crowd at a EDM festival…(Image: World Youth Day)He often mixes prayer and speeches from Pope Francis into EDM tracks, spreading messages of love and peace.
Padre boats 1.2 million followers on Instagram and a further 1.1million on TikTok.
What was the Vatican’s reaction?
Some people of the more ‘traditional’ value set might not understand Guilherme., or his penchant to make the church’s message play out of a club speaker rather than a sermon.
However, Guilherme managed to get Pope Francis’ ‘approval’ a couple of years back. The late pontiff, who passed on Easter Monday, even blessed the DJ’s headphones during a visit to the Vatican.
Blessed be the beats!(Image: padre.guilherme/Instagram )It is believed Pope Francis did this because he was so impressed with Guilherme’s ‘outreach’ to the wider and younger community in finding ‘the lost sheep’ and guiding them to the Catholic Church.
As the Western world has become more secular over the last couple of decades, Guilherme has managed to appeal to an audience where the Catholic Church has traditionally struggled to do so.
“I’m making these messages arrive where the church is not,” Guilherme said at one of his events with 30,000 attendees.
“It’s very important to me to not only be the priest DJ, but be the shepherd of the community. The world is not so closed to Jesus. But you need to speak the language.”
The DJ exploded in popularity when he was asked to play a sunrise set before the Pope’s morning mass at World Youth Day in Portugal in 2023.
He played a massive set to 1.5million people before the Pope’s mass(Image: World Youth Day)Guilherme woke 1.5million of God’s children with techno tracks, ready for day of prayers and synth.
The DJ’s set is now going viral on TikTok two years later, where cardinals can be seen smiling and taking photos of the harp and base maestro as he sticks his hand in the air at his creations.
He’s since played a massive set at Christ the Redeemer, Brazil, lighting up the iconic religious monument with strobe lighting and dry ice.
Where can you see DJ Padre Guilherme play?
DJ Padre might have just found the sweet spot for those who shun stain glassed windows, and reject the sticky club floor.
Could the priest help the youth find Jesus and get back to loving a night out at the same time? They’re both two things that have been dwindling over the last decade and DJ Padre, with his peace-fuelled beats, might be the answer.
Content cannot be displayed without consentWhile Jesus might not be the taste of everyone, there’s no denying that the smiling bald geezer with an ear for a remix puts on quite the spectacle.
He often stands in front of screen, displaying trippy images of Christ, holy Crosses and the earth.
Guilherme also loves a set with strobe lighting and pyrotechnics. He knows how to put on quite the show.
The DJ’s work has said to be pivotal in youth outreach for the Catholic Church(Image: Getty Images)Many people on social media have displayed their desire for Guilherme to play a set at the Vatican for the new Pope Leo – the very first pontiff from the US.
But, if you want in on what is being dubbed as the ‘monastery of sound’ then you can catch DJ Padre here:
24 May: Festival da Juventude – Valongo, Portugal
9 June: Festival da Juventude – Oeiras, Portugal.
14 June: La Clairière – Paris, France
26 June: Festival Facit – Tábua , Portugal
29 June: Green Way Festival – Mont Saint Eloi, France
3 July: Catholic Youth Day – Cluj Napoca, Romania
5 July: Jubilee Celebration Tikvah 2025 – Mexico City, Mexico
9 August: Medusa Festival – Valencia, Spain