Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance at a rave in celebration of Archbishop Bernard Bober’s birthday, with a Catholic priest serving as DJ for the night.
Robert Francis Prevost, officially dubbed Pope Leo XIV in May 2025, is the first-ever American to hold the office of Pope, and he’s already endearing believers the world over by combining Catholicism and pop culture.
For instance, he declared teen internet star Carlo Acutis ‘God’s influencer’ and canonized him as the very first millennial saint, and left social media stunned when it was discovered that he’s related to Justin Bieber, Madonna, and even Angelina Jolie.
He’s making waves on the internet once again after appearing at a rave on November 8 to send a special message in honor of Archbishop Bernard Bober’s 75th birthday.
Pope Leo opens rave in honor of Archbishop’s birthday
Footage of the rave is going viral on Instagram, showing Pope Leo opening up the EDM gathering with an inspiring message encouraging attendees to share their faith with others, ending his sermon with an ‘Amen’ right before the beat dropped.
The rave took place outside of St. Elisabeth’s Cathedral, a 14th-century structure located in Košice, Slovakia. Crowds of attendees showed up to celebrate and vibe to the music, cheering when Pope Leo appeared on screen.
The viral show was DJ’d by a Catholic priest named Padre Guilherme, who has been a leader in the Catholic faith since 1999. He’s been a DJ for the last few years, and started streaming his sets during the pandemic, combining techno beats with “sacred, folk music.”
As reported by Classic FM, Guilherme found that raves brought together people from many backgrounds, and believes that music, much like a shared faith, can bring people together.
You can even stream his music on Spotify, where he currently boasts over 86K monthly listeners with remixes of Ave Maria and Adoramus.
Commenters couldn’t help but notice the connection between the Chicago-born Pope and the city’s connection to the origin of House music, with one writing on Instagram, “The Pope is from Chicago, where House music was born. Yeeezzz electronic music, here we come!”
“We got the Vatican dropping raves before GTA 6 bro,” another joked.
“This is the most Chicagoan thing ever!” another exclaimed.
