The Singing Priest Is One-Upped By A Dancing One, Says He Danced For Late Pope John Paul II At The Vatican

Father Jose Planas Moreno has become an overnight internet sensation, owing to his sensuous dance moves during packed congregations.

When Father Jose kicks up his heels, female congregants are drawn down the aisle to the front of the congregation to dance with him in the city of Campanilla. The Roman Catholic priest in southern Spain has parishioners literally banging down his church doors, all so they can praise God and dance the flamenco. Jose Planas Moreno, or Father Pepe as he is fondly known around the town, brings together his flocks of congregants to the Nuestra Senora del Carmen church in Campanilla by clicking his heels and strutting his stuff.

Across Spain, the Catholic Church is struggling with falling numbers, but not at the Nuestra Senora del Carmen church in Malaga. Masses are packed, often with serpentine queues forming outside the church, all due to the dancing priest Father Pepe who delights the congregation by performing the sevillanas, a traditional dance linked to the flamenco, reported the Mirror.

Hitching up his white cassock and raising his arms above his head like a seasoned dancer, Father Pepe even kicks his heels in the aisles. No wonder female worshippers clamor to take turns to dance with the 66-year-old priest, reported The NY Daily News.

Videos of a recent mass taken on the local feast day and uploaded on to YouTube has gone viral on social networks and spread Father Pepe’s fame far beyond his parish. Explaining his unique way of pulling in the masses, Father Pepe, explains:

“Something happens when I dance. I love it. It brings me closer to God.”

The Father attributes his phenomenal dancing skills to his mother, who he confirmed was a gypsy. Incidentally, his dancing isn’t new. Father Pepe has actually performed in front of the late Pope John Paul II and at the Vatican. He was among 3,000 or so gypsies who broke into dance to celebrate the beatification of the first Romany saint, Ceferino Gimenez Mallo, a Spaniard shot by a leftist execution squad during Spain’s Civil War for defending a priest.

Spain is facing a dangerous decline of devout Catholics regularly attending church. Despite being celebrated as a Roman Catholic stronghold, a recent survey showed only 72 percent of Spaniards defined themselves as Catholic, a drop of 8 percent in a decade.

A while ago, The Inquisitr had reported about Father Ray Kelly who sung “Hallelujah” and became an overnight internet celebrity. Would Father Pepe, with beautiful movements and divine presence, become one too?

[Image Credit | YouTube]