A Church for everyone? How was the DJ Guilherme priest's show?
DJ Guilherme's massive electronic music tribute to Pope Francis in Plaza de Mayo sparked several controversies about the "openness" of the Catholic Church.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. “The Church is a place for everyone, everyone, everyone.” A year after his death, Pope Francis’s voice echoed through the loudspeakers, combined with electronic sounds, reverberating through Plaza de Mayo and downtown Buenos Aires. Among the thousands of people who filled the three main avenues leading to the plaza and the Casa Rosada on Saturday night, children, friends, mothers, fathers, the elderly, heterosexual and queer couples danced to the music and steps led by Portuguese priest and DJ Guilherme Peixoto.
“For there to be a celebration, there has to be a gathering. Thank you all for wanting to come together. We are all different, but we are all here,”Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva of Buenos Aires told the crowd from the stage. In an ultra-conservative political context, where the most marginalized sectors—the poor, people with disabilities, retirees, and the LGBTQ+ community—face a new battle every day, the initiative managed to transcend barriers, connect with people, and bring joy to a diverse audience. The message throughout the show sought to include all these people, even those historically marginalized by the Catholic Church.
A panoramic view revealed a packed plaza, ablaze with thousands of flashes of light, and two flags waving: the Argentine and the Vatican. Zooming in on the crowd, fans in the colors of the LGBT flag fluttered overhead, along with flags of Diego Armando Maradona and others bearing quotes from Pope Francis, the most frequent being: “Make a mess!” Chests throbbed to the bass of the electronic music, a mix of tracks ranging from Pope Francis’s encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti to Queen, Guns N’ Roses, Bad Bunny, and León Gieco.
A "village-style" party
Franco Espinoza, a professional dancer from Corrientes who studies in Buenos Aires, arrived in the afternoon at the plaza, which had been packed with people since early morning waiting for the show. “I think the idea is interesting. I’ve never seen a priest get up on stage to DJ. It’s disruptive and new. There’s everything: from a little girl holding her parents’ hands with her stuffed animal, to babies in strollers, older adults drinking mate, young people, and people dressed however they like. It’s really lovely. I think it’s going to be quite a small-town affair.” Next to him, Santvel, a non-binary model and influencer from Chaco, added: “I love these kinds of gatherings. I didn’t do catechism, communion, nothing, because of my family, but I’m open to any religion, as long as it’s respectful.”
The festival “Francis Lives in Encounter” was intended to commemorate Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death, which occurred on April 21, 2025. The pope who was Argentinian and the first Latin American; the only one who chose the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, committed to the most needy; the one who received groups of trans women at the Vatican andfought for the openness of the Church; the one who committed himself to defending peace and spreading a message of respect for nature.
The Pope's blessing
With a banner in the background reading “Thank you, Pope Francis. Intercede for us,” the event took place in Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada, the seat of the national government. That same day, President Javier Milei was traveling to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amidst the ongoing war between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
The priest DJ, known as “Father Gu/lherme,” started playing promptly at eight o'clock in the evening. With a wooden rosary on his right wrist, round black-framed glasses, headphones behind his ears, dressed in a black shirt and trousers with a white clerical collar, the priest stood at the front of the stage for two and a half hours. From there, he energized the crowd by encouraging them to clap, performing dance moves that the audience imitated, and maintaining a classic gesture that he embodied throughout the night: his arms outstretched to his sides, his hands gently waving behind him.
Who is the priest DJ?
Peixoto is 51 years old and was born in Guimarães, Portugal. He has been a priest since 1999 and served as a military chaplain in conflict zones. The first time he put on a small show fusing electronic music with religion was at an Afghan military base in 2010, and he dedicated it to the soldiers. Upon his return, he decided to train in electronic music and perform shows to raise funds for the São Tiago de Amorim church. He says that Pope Francis was an inspiration: “He encouraged us not to be afraid of being judged. Thanks to that message, I began to do something different at the parish level.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he held virtual sessions that went viral, and in 2023, he finally managed to reach thousands of faithful at World Youth Day, when then-Pope Francis visited Portugal.
Last Friday, the day before the show, the priest visited the Padre Carlos Mugica neighborhood (Villa 31), accompanied by Father Ignacio Gabattini; Pope Francis's niece, María Inés; and members of the Miserando Association. He attended the 6 p.m. Mass at the Virgen del Rosario Chapel. Earlier that day, his niece rehearsed the choreography with young people from Ciudad Oculta, members of the Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) charity, which they later performed on Saturday in Plaza de Mayo.
Electronics and spirituality
People who weren't religious but wanted to come because of the event's unique nature, young people who follow electronic music, parish groups, friends, and families. Nine-year-old Constantino danced holding hands with his mother, Laura, 52. He quickly answered the question, "Why did you come?": "To celebrate Pope Francis. He was the best Pope in the world, very special," he said. "And also because we like electronic music, music in general," his mother added.
Alejandra Benítez, a 33-year-old woman, arrived at the plaza with a friend. She followed Father Gu/lherme on social media. “I’m quite spiritual, I don’t go to church or anything. I’m not a supporter of the church. I think it’s very focused on taking your money, on confining you in other ways. But spiritually, it does call to me,” she shared.
Photo: GCBA Press
There was also a strong presence of foreigners. Didem Demir, a 46-year-old German woman who was passing through the country, invited her best friend, 70-year-old Ada Beatriz de la Cruz, to the event to reunite after years apart. “I was so moved. I was in tears,” shared Didem, struggling to find the right words in Spanish. They were both dancing in an area near the barriers and away from the crowd. “Francis called on the youth, he connected with them with love. Young people are the building blocks of the future,” she said.
Several meters from the stage, some people climbed trees to get a better view of the priest. Others followed him on screens set up around the area. In front of them were people moshing and others watching the various images being projected: the LED stage lights, Guilherme's movements, but also the face of a noticeably emotional woman, the sweaty body of someone who knew all the songs, the face of a young woman with sunglasses and glitter on her forehead forming a cross. A woman watched them with her husband, both sitting in lawn chairs on the grass, holding hands that swayed to the beat.
Thecriticisms
The event, which was organized by the Miserando Civil Association and had the support of the Buenos Aires city government and the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, also received criticism.
“I think what can attract people to the church is the testimony of taking risks, as Francis always said : letting everyone into the church and taking risks for those on the margins, for the discarded ,” said Mónica Astorga Cremona, known as “the nun of the trans,” who was forced to leave the convent because of her support for the transvestite and trans community , when consulted for this article .
“Less priests and more crazy people,” said Carroza LOCA, an LGBTTIQ+ collective of artists and parties, which on Saturday, while the priest DJ was playing in Plaza de Mayo, carried out the LOCA party in La Nube, in the northern area of the City of Buenos Aires.
“Before becoming trendy, mainstream, or now 'Christian,' electronic music had an underground and resistance origin. Bread and circuses. Shiny trinkets. Don't be fooled, it's not a message of peace or unity. They were already responsible for several genocides and now they present themselves as good and fun, taking advantage of the global context,” shared artist, DJ, and techno and electronic music producer Manu Calmet on his social media.
The trans activist, DJ, and producer Violeta Alegre was also critical: “Capitalism adapts to co-opt, always. The church and its powerful doctrine saw the opening and entered; for some, it may be bizarre, funny, etc. For me, it is dangerous.”
Author: Nuță Lucian from Cluj-Napoca, Romania
The figure of Francis
Besides the controversy surrounding Father Peixoto, both within and outside the Church, Pope Francis also inspires devotion and enmity. His fervent opposition to the Equal Marriage Law, when he was Cardinal Bergoglio, remains fresh in people's minds. This is the same person who, in 2018, as head of the Vatican, authorized the blessing of same-sex couples for the first time. He insisted that "every person is a child of God" when referring to sexual diversity and emphasized that "the Church is for everyone, everyone, everyone."
She worked for the sectors most marginalized by neoliberalism, such as migrants and the working class, under her motto "land, housing, and work." But she also insisted, until shortly before her death, that "gender ideology" is "the ugliest danger" because "it erases differences and makes everything the same.
The Virgin of the Falklands
The first massive applause of the night came when the image of Our Lady of Luján, the national patron saint venerated by Pope Francis, was displayed on the stage and on the screens. In 2019, when the United Kingdom carried out the restitution of the image of Our Lady of Luján, which had accompanied Argentine soldiers in the Falklands War and is known as the "Malvinas Virgin," the then-Pope blessed it in the Vatican, and it is now touring the entire country.
“War solves nothing. May the Lord bless you all,” Archbishop García Cuerva said from the stage, referring to current wars and supporting Pope Leo XIV’s call for peace, with a dove appearing in the background for much of the show. Father Guilherme thanked those present for coming together to celebrate. Before the end, “Sólo le pido a Dios” (I Only Ask of God), the song released in 1978 during the Argentine State Terrorism, was played. Amid electronic sounds and lights that crossed the plaza, León Gieco’s voice rang out: “May the future not be indifferent to me.”
The show was filled with shared emotion. Perhaps the first in a long time to bring together such diverse groups, supporters and non-supporters alike, to celebrate together. It also carried a message that inspires action. Pope Francis'sclosing words resonated throughout the erupting plaza: “Don't get caught in the queue of history. Be protagonists!”
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