Portugal: When he is not a priest, he is a DJ. Guilherme Peixoto, a priest in a tiny northern Portugese town, loves electronic pop music. Apart from the service at the church, he also considers it his duty to keep the spirits of his people during the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported.
Every Friday and Sunday, the 45-year-old Peixoto swaps his vestments for a T-shirt and transforms into a DJ. He live-streams some of his favourite tunes on Facebook.
“Right now it’s so important to use social media to bring a bit of joy into people’s lives,” Peixoto told Reuters. “And people seem happy when they see a priest playing music online,” he added.
The music event attracts thousands of people stuck at home, which has infected more than 11,000 people and led to over 300 deaths in Portugal so far.
With strobe and fairy lights, a turntable, mixers, a microphone and sparkling, colourful decorations, Peixoto even gets the ambience right.
Extending gratitude to this one of a kind corona-warrior, viewers leave thank you notes in the comment section.
“Thank you priest for the great music,” said a viewer last Friday. “Thank you for lifting our spirits,” another wrote online.
Peixoto is also known to share awareness videos to encourage people to stay indoors. “Although churches are closed, I want to let people know there are many ways to pray,” he told Reuters .
