Padre Guilherme

**Padre Guilherme** is a Portuguese Catholic priest and DJ who has carved out a unique niche by blending electronic dance music with religious and folk elements. Born Guilherme Peixoto in Guimarães in 1974, he was ordained as a priest in 1999 and serves in the Archdiocese of Braga while also holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a military chaplain. He first started DJing in 2010 while organizing social events for soldiers during a deployment to Afghanistan, and after returning to Portugal, he pursued professional training in DJing and began hosting club nights as fundraisers for his parish. His DJ career took off during the COVID-19 pandemic when he started streaming weekly sets online, combining pulsing techno beats with sacred sounds like church bells, Ave Maria, and excerpts from papal encyclicals—an approach that caught international attention through features in Reuters and Forbes.

What really put Padre Guilherme on the map was his viral 2023 performance at World Youth Day in Lisbon, where he played an early-morning outdoor set for over a million people gathered before Pope Francis's final mass. His sets are characterized by a unique blend of faith, peace, and love woven into energetic rhythms, with influences drawn from both sacred and folk music traditions. For Padre Guilherme, electronic music isn't just entertainment—it's a ministry tool and a way to bring people together across different backgrounds, faiths, and cultures, proving that the dance floor and spiritual conviction can absolutely coexist.

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