Catholicism is reinventing itself': Brazilians waking at 4am to stream prayers

"Psychologist Claudia Rodrigues de Oliveira Barbosa, 54, needs to be at work by 7.40am, but she wakes up at 3.40am not because she has a lengthy commute, but to watch a dawn prayer livestream on YouTube. She is one of the millions of Brazilians who tune in to the 4am sermons of Catholic friar Gilson da Silva Pupo Azevedo, 38, known as Frei Gilson, who has recently averaged an impressive 2m daily views for each video."

"Some people find it odd that I wake up so early to pray with him, but it's a time when the house is quiet and you're disconnected from the world, said Barbosa, who lives with her husband and two teenage boys. The habit of rising early to watch prayer livestreams is growing rapidly in the country, which is home to the world's largest Catholic population."

"Frei Gilson is the most prominent of a number of religious leaders who have become livestreamers, and experts say the trend suggests that Brazil may be a testing ground for religious influencers updating Catholic rituals to keep them alive. The Catholic church is trying to renew itself through digital missionaries, and I would say that Brazil is a major exporter of ideas to the Catholic world, said religion scholar Rodrigo Toniol, professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro."

Psychologist Claudia Rodrigues de Oliveira Barbosa wakes at 3.40am to watch a 4am YouTube dawn prayer livestream. Catholic friar Gilson da Silva Pupo Azevedo, known as Frei Gilson, averages about 2m daily views per video. Millions of Brazilians tune into early-morning sermons as livestreaming religious leaders update Catholic rituals through digital platforms. The habit of rising early to pray online is spreading across Brazil, the world's largest Catholic population. The Catholic church is pursuing digital missionaries to renew practice while Catholics decline from over 80% to just over half of the population. Some followers undertake extended prayer routines despite fatigue from early rising.

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