Father Sandesh Manuel, a Franciscan Catholic priest who grew up in India and resides in Vienna, Austria, is an influencer, musician, and rapper with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.
He recently spoke to ChurchPOP editor Jacqueline Burkepile about his newest single, “Carlo Acutis, Pray for Us,” which he performed this week at the Jubilee of Youth.
Father Manuel belongs to the Austrian Franciscan Province and has lived in Vienna for the last 11 years, where he studied music and now leads evangelization efforts.
He said after he started sharing his content online, “things started to take shape.” Father Manuel now has nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram alone.
“I'd like to spread the love of Jesus and the peace of Jesus through my music,” he told ChurchPOP.
Father Manuel chose rap because he believes it is “a language in which youth understand.” He said it especially resonates with the “German-speaking area.”
When he discovered the story of Carlo Acutis, he found it “so touching.”
The story of Rajesh Mohur, Acutis' Hindu nanny who converted to Catholicism, also resonated with the Franciscan priest.
“All these things helped me to make a song on Carlo Acutis, and I had this great opportunity to perform this song.”
He also praised the Vatican's decision to canonize Carlo Acutis this year on September 7.
"Canonizing Carlo Acutis is a great move from the Vatican because youth can identify with this young saint with jeans and sneakers and with a laptop in his hand. He’s a digital saint—a millennial saint,” Father Manuel said.
“I also like that his love for the Eucharist was very much shown through his searching for Eucharistic miracles or being very simple because he also loved Saint Francis of Assisi,” he added.
Performing at the Jubilee of Youth
Father Manuel described performing at this week’s Jubilee of Youth as “a great experience.”
“It was really accepted by the people because…they were they were looking for this music. This is very new in the Catholic Church. They were so happy that there was something like this because they also wanted to dance," he said.
These positive experiences have inspired Father Manuel to continue writing more songs for the Church's young people.
“This has motivated me to make some more songs like this on different topics. I have two more songs coming. One is called 'Zumba Jesus' and [the other is] 'Dance for Jesus.' These are youth songs, and I will film them in the coming months in Uganda.”