Like many a Japanese business and internet teenager before them, The Vatican has created a new anime OC, Luce, to serve as the mascot of the Catholic Church (and ostensibly help it reach a new generation of followers) in 2025.
Named after the Italian word for ‘Light’, the character is depicted, per a summary by Vatican-centric news outlet The Catcholic Standard, as “a cartoon pilgrim dressed in a yellow raincoat, mud-stained boots, wearing a missionary cross and holding a pilgrim’s staff,” whose “glowing eyes feature the shape of scallop shells, a traditional symbol of pilgrimage and hope.”
According to Archbishop Salvatore “Rino” Fischiella, who unveiled Luce to the world on October 28th, Luce was borne out of the Church’s wish “to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth.”
In addition to serving as the official mascot of the Holy Year 2025, Luce will also act feature front and center in the Holy See’s pavilion at the upcoming Expo 2025, “a global gathering of nations dedicated to finding solutions to pressing challenges of our time by offering a journey inside a universal theme through engaging and immersive activities,” in Osaka, Japan.
Luce’s visual appearance was created by Italian artist Simone Legno, who is perhaps better known online as the artistic half of the ‘kawaii’ Japanese-inspired product group Tokidoki.
Announcing the partnership via his personal Instagram page, Legno beamed, “With indescribable joy I’d love to introduce to you “Luce ”, the very first Mascotte for a Jubilee, a special celebration the Church holds at least once every 25 years.”
“It’s a year of pilgrimages, of a focus on the spiritual life,” he continued. “To be honest, I could never have imagined that I would bring my humble artistic contribution, pop-culture, kawaii-culture to the Holy See. I am extremely grateful to the Dicastery for Evangelization for opening its doors to my Art.”
“I grew up in my hometown Rome in a Catholic family, where I learned the principles of a faith grounded in generosity and respect for others,” he recalled. “In my work, I am fortunate to engage with the many cultures of the world, constantly searching for a contemporary and universal language that I strive to bring into my compositions.”
“The Jubilee is undoubtedly a unique opportunity for encounter and dialogue for millions of people, including many young people,” he concluded. “I hope that the pilgrim Luce and her traveling friends, can represent the sentiments that resonate in the hearts of the younger generations. It’s a marvelous experience and a joyful light that I will bring within me for the rest of my Life.”
As seen in Legno’s post, far from just focusing on the yellow-coated pilgrim, the project’s will also introduce a number of her friends, all of whom will presumably, like Luce, bear names and designs with religious connotations. However, as of writing, only Luce herself has been revealed.
Luce’s reveal has garnered a mix of reactions from both the religious and anime communities alike, with some praising the Church’s acceptance of pop-culture and others condemning the mascot’s existence as outright blasphemous.
For example, @killer4t playfully joked, “We literally have the power of God and anime on our side”, a reference to a popular meme.
Others, like @abbythelibb_, took Luce’s name to be a direct reference to Lucifer himself (in doing so failing to realize that his name, which translates to ‘Light-Bringer’, is based upon the word ‘luce’ and not the other way around):
Some, such as the Catholic brewery Tridentine Brewing, just rolled their eyes, as they considered Luce’s creation to be a ‘childish’ move.
The announcement has also raised questions about Luce’s existence as an ‘anime OC’ given the many negative depictions of the Church throughout the medium, such as in Vinland Saga (where the main character has a deep inner struggle over his faith and morality) or Berserk (where an analogue for the Church is featured as one of the series’ biggest villains).
Others still have found themselves critical of Luce’s design, likening it to everything from Evangelion‘s Rei Ayanami to the lazy characters featured in the Milady Maker set of NFTs, in doing so cementing their opinion that the Vatican’s OC is nothing more than a lazy publicly stunt.
Of course, these reactions are to be expected, as bringing religious topics and iconography into an agnostic space will no doubt result in rustled jimmies.
However, time and time again, the anime community has proven that they are not a monolith, and as such there remains a strong possibility that despite the criticism against her, Luce may still serve her function of bringing people to the Church.