The Vatican's anime-style mascot Luce is going viral on the internet with Catholic memes and fan art

Washington, DC Newsroom, November 3, 2024 / 8:00 AM

The Vatican introduced an anime-style mascot Luce was named representative of Catholic pilgrims for the Jubilee Year 2025 on Monday, October 28 – and within a week the character has already become a viral internet sensation.

In less than seven days, hundreds of memes and fan art versions of Luce (pronounced Lu – Chay) appeared on social media websites, such as Facebook, X, Reddit and Tiktok, and circulated on the platforms.

The character has become especially popular among Catholic meme accounts and groups, but is also present in non-Catholic spaces, such as amateur anime artists, Protestant meme accounts, and some secular and political meme accounts. It has also inspired Halloween costumes and the creation of a cryptocurrency called Luce Token, which has a market capitalization that has been surpassed $50 million.

Luce’s symbolism

Luce, Italian for “light,” is a blue-haired mascot who wears a rosary around her neck and a yellow raincoat that is meant to symbolize the journey through life’s storms and reflects the color of the Vatican flag. She wears green, muddy boots that represent a long and difficult journey and a staff that is meant to symbolize the pilgrimage to eternity.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization commissioned the creation of the character, designed by Italian artist Simone Legno, owner of the tokidoki company, which makes products with Japanese-inspired designs. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s main organizer for the anniversary, unveiled the mascot at a press conference.

Many of Luce’s inspired memes evoke Christian messages of prayer and warding off the devil. One popular memewhich parodies a famous scene from The Shining, shows Luce using her staff to break a hole in a wooden door and stick her face through the hole while the devil cowers in the corner. Some others show Luce kneeling in prayer.

Several Luce memes spreading across the internet also evoke pro-life messages, like one in which Luce rescues a baby from a Planned Parenthood abortion facility. Some memes have placed Luce side by side with the Crusaders.

Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, a Catholic priest with a large social media following, has embraced the mascot: create threads on X featuring over 70 of his favorite fan art renditions of Luce. Some amateur artists are Catholic, but dozens of amateur anime artists who normally produce secular art have also jumped on the trend.

“I love Luce, the mascot for the holy year 2025,” Schneider said on X. “The images seem like a good Christian adaptation of modern culture or inculturation.”

Catholic Answers’ seal of approval?

Thomas Graf, Catholic Answers’ social media manager, wrote in an article on Thursday that he initially worried that the character would be a failed attempt to “make Church cool and relevant.” However, he notes that it was eventually embraced by some Catholics across all age groups.

“Luce is undeniably cute,” Graf wrote. “You may not agree, but I have to hand it to the creators: they nailed the aura of childlike faith and innocence. And the pilgrim symbols embedded in her character – muddy boots, Camino de Santiago shells in her eyes, pilgrim cross and the World Mission rosary – are subtle. Nothing reminiscent of the presumptuous “Jesus is COOL, kids!!” stupidity, so to speak, VBS mascots.”

Christians who are not Catholic have also jumped on the Luce thread to create their own versions of the character.

One message in the Anglicanism subreddit developed an Anglican version of Luce with symbolism representing their own denomination. Lutherans Facebook And X have done the same by creating Lutheran versions of Luce and claiming that she converted – prompting strong responses from Catholics who reclaimed the character. Some Orthodox Christians have made similar posts.

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“I’ve seen a lot of ‘I’m not Catholic but Luce is so cute’ posts – THIS IS HOW WE WIN,” said one Twitter user.

Not all Catholics are fans

Despite Luce’s success on social media, not all Catholics are fans of the character.

Traditionalist Catholic theologian Peter Kwasniewski wrote on X that “even if Luce isn’t ‘evil’, the fact that she is kitschy, cute, cringey, merchy, and childish is offensive to the religion of the Logos.”

Kwasniewski also criticized Legno, the artist who designed the character, calling him “a moral degenerate.” Legno’s company Tokidoki has promoted gay pride and has partnered with one company to produce sex toys.

Edward Feser, a Catholic philosopher and professor at Pasadena City College, also criticized the character on X: “Infantilizing the young with a watered-down version of Catholicism does them a disservice.”

Some traditionalist-minded Catholics, such as Michael Knowles, host of The Daily Wire, supported Luce.

“I attend the traditional Latin Mass,” Knowles wrote on X. “I wear bow ties. I read old books. I smoke cigars. I am married and have three children under the age of four. I’m what they call a ‘tradition’. And I’m a fan of Luce.”

The Vatican plans to move forward with the mascot. Luce was featured at the Lucca Comics & Games Convention in Tuscany, Italy last weekend and will also appear at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan next year.

Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for the Catholic News Agency, based in the Washington Bureau of EWTN News. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in several media outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.