In Buenos Aires, a giant “rave” in tribute… to Pope Francis

A few tens of thousands of people made May Square vibrate in Buenos Aires on Saturday April 18, to the electro sound of Portuguese DJ priest Guilherme Peixoto, for a giant rave, in homage to the Argentine Pope Francis, who died just a year ago.

The emblematic Place de May, used to major political and militant demonstrations, most recently to mark the 50 years of the dictatorship (1976-1983), turned for more than two hours into a gigantic party, clogging adjacent avenues, noted AFP. This free concert was held in front of the cathedral square of which Jorge Bergoglio was the very popular archbishop for 15 years, before becoming Pope Francis in 2013. He never returned to Argentina until his death on April 21, 2025.

Intense pulses, powerful but melodic build-ups, video mappings of celestial clouds, doves of peace, crosses, interspersed with images and audio messages from Pope Francis: alternately hilarious or absorbed, at the mixing desk, Father Guilherme, black shirt and clerical collar, hosted this who has made him internationally known in recent years, and what moves him. “May music manage to touch hearts, so much so that, when young people return home after a concert, they return happy, with something extra (…) like the desire to change the world”, he told AFP on the eve of the concert, for which the municipality of Buenos Aires said it was expecting between 30,000 and 50,000 people.

The cocktail of electro and religious message has become a trademark of Father Guilherme, famous well beyond his native Portugal – originally from Guimaraes, he is a priest in Braga – for his techno “high masses”, which he celebrated throughout the world, Lisbon, Beirut, Mexico, Rio, Ibiza… A cocktail, a gateway to young people, dubbed by Pope Francis himself, who met him and invited him to host World Youth Days in Lisbon in 2023.

“It’s so good that he’s trying to bring people together through electronics and religion,” said to AFP in the compact crowd, mostly young but not exclusively, Tomas Ferreira, a 25-year-old lawyer, who unlike 63% of Argentines says he is not Catholic. But aware that “religion is modernizing, and that’s a good thing.” “I find it wonderful because it comes from an intention of the Church to bring together a lot of people, different types of people”said Martina Jardon, an 18-year-old student.

Reproduced on giant screens in nearby avenues, the concert, under the theme “François lives in the encounter”alternated purely electro sounds, and a few brief nods more dated, but not without religious reference, such as Knockin’ on heaven’s door (Bob Dylan).

“I have always loved music. At the seminar with the young people of my parish, it was normal for me”, explained to AFP Father Guilherme, jovial and plump in his fifties. “I never felt that because I was at the seminary I shouldn’t do this or that, or go out in the evening. At 18, we created a pop-rock group…” It was by starting to organize karaoke in the 2000s in his parish, to raise some funds, that he gradually began to mix, then develop a techno culture. Then the pandemic saw him shift, producing streams and sets that went viral.

Over time, its techno “has become a little more melodic, that’s what I play now. It also allows me to insert a whole series of messages throughout the set”he emphasizes. “Messages of peace”. “It gives me goosebumps when I see the young people, when I feel us all united on the dance floor. It’s a very beautiful image, like a journey”he muses. “If it’s possible to travel together on the track, then it’s also possible to travel together off the track, right?”