Priest DJ draws 5,000 to Mörbisch festival

About 5,000 people attended a performance by Portuguese priest and techno DJ Padre Guilherme at the Cross Pulse Pannonia festival on Saturday evening, ORF reported, citing the Diocese of Eisenstadt.

Padre Guilherme performed at the Mörbisch stage venue, where operettas and musicals are usually presented. The appearance was his debut in the German-speaking region. He said he was happy to take part in the event, adding that it was special to pray together before dancing together.

The festival opened with a Catholic Mass attended by about 1,000 people. Diocesan Bishop Ägidius Zsifkovics led the service, while Franciscan friar Father Manuel Sandesh delivered the sermon partly in rap form.

Zsifkovics said the event had left behind “some of the mustiness and dust of history” and sought to open up to young people.