(LifeSiteNews) — The “DJ priest” who played techno music before the final papal Mass at this year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, faces further scrutiny after archived footage surfaced showing him defending sodomy and providing ambiguous comments on the practice of masturbation.
During an interview on the “Maluco Beleza” podcast in Portugal on September 23, 2020, Father Guilherme Peixoto played down sexual acts committed outside of marriage, which are considered sins according to Catholic doctrine.
The priest’s statements, although made in September 2020, recently gained renewed attention when the interview was posted on a Catholic Facebook page.
READ: ‘DJ priest’ at World Youth Day slammed for techno session next to altar before papal Mass
Podcast host Rui Unas questioned Peixoto about the sinful nature surrounding the practice of sodomy. Unas asked:
If someone engages in an act of sodomy, by mutual agreement with their partner, and even with some violence, with some unconventional and unorthodox behavior in this regard, but in their conscience they don’t feel guilty and believe they haven’t violated their dignity, is everything fine?
To which Peixoto replied:
I think so. I think so because it strengthened love between them; everything that happens in the bedroom is a personal matter.
Enthusiastic about the priest’s affirmative response, the host exclaimed, “We have a priest to answer this!” Unas continued to inquire about a Catholic’s moral standing regarding masturbation, with Peixoto stating, “These things are all very personal. And I think it doesn’t make sense for someone to come to the priest and talk about it.”
In justifying why a Catholic should not seek a priest’s confession for this sin, the priest said:
There is the sin against chastity, and each person knows their own actions. The Church doesn’t need to use a chart to dictate what each person can do and where they should do it in terms of sexuality … It’s important for each person to know if the act they committed diminishes their human dignity or not. And from there, it’s a personal matter for each one. The Catholic Church doesn’t need to intervene.
Negative backlash
In the comments section of the Facebook post, many Catholics criticized Peixoto’s statement. One user commented, “The Devil applauds this priest. The three temptations that lead to the loss of souls: the flesh (unrestrained passions/sexual deviations), the world, and the Devil. This already explains the threatening distortion to the faithful by the mentioned priest speaking.”
Another user remarked, “Father Guilherme needs to make a good confession.”
Peixoto’s statements on sodomy and masturbation contradict the Catholic Church’s teaching on chastity, as presented in both Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
According to St. Paul in 1 Cor 6:9-10:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the impure, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites […] will inherit the kingdom of God.
Furthermore, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, homosexual acts are condemned as a “grave depravity” and “intrinsically disordered” since they “close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
Regarding masturbation, the Catechism states, in §2352:
‘Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.’
‘The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.’ For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of ‘the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order, whereby the human act is ordered by right reason and is therefore essentially capable of right and ordered relationships, is not achieved.’
In his book “Love and Responsibility,” Pope John Paul II affirms: “Chastity cannot be understood without the virtue of love. Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of truly loving.”
Who is Fr. Guilherme Peixoto?
Fr. Peixoto gained significant attention during the recent World Youth Day (WYD) held in Portugal in August. On the final day, the priest awoke millions of attendees who were sleeping before the events of the day with a techno-themed music. As reported by LifeSiteNews, participants attested to the bass sounds vibrating through the ground. The performance, which reportedly lasted around half an hour, has been met with widespread strong criticism from Catholics online.
The 49-year-old Peixoto is renowned in his native Portugal as a DJ, with his interest in techno and rock music beginning at an early age. He even formed a “pop rock band” with four other seminarian friends and continued his increased attachment to being a DJ as a priest.