Who is ‘Luce’? – The Catholic Church’s anime mascot, explained

The Catholic Church has unveiled a new cartoon mascot known as ‘Luce’, and the trenchcoat-clad anime girl has already made a splash online.

Luce has been embraced and denounced by the extremely online masses, and has inevitably inspired a ridiculous amount of fan art and memes.

Who is Luce, the Vatican’s new mascot?

Luce has been designed as a child-friendly mascot for the Catholic Church’s upcoming anniversary year 2025, which is all about hope, forgiveness and holy pilgrimages.

Luce means ‘light’ in Italian; the anime girl is designed to appeal to today’s youth who grew up watching it One piece And Demon slayer. The character is depicted in the ‘chibi’ art style, meaning short, cute characters with big heads and stubby limbs.

Luce was designed by Simone Legno, the Italian pop artist behind the brand tokidokiwho is inspired by street graffiti and Japanese art.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the organizer of the anniversary, said the mascot was inspired by the Catholic Church’s desire “to live even within the pop culture so loved by our young people.”

Luce also turns out to be a pilgrim, so she wears a raincoat, muddy boots and a walking staff, symbolizing her perseverance through a stormy landscape.

Luce’s entire outfit is loaded with Catholic iconography and symbolism; she wears rosary beads around her neck, and her bright blue hair could be a reference to the Virgin Mary’s blue hair covering.

Luce also has shells in her eyes, which are an iconic symbol of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, with the shell representing the road to the cathedral.

Luce turned out to be a pleasant surprise for anime-loving Catholics, immediately inspiring a flood of fan art and positive commentary.

A lot of comparisons made to Rei, a blue-haired character from the legendary anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Others pointed out that Luce bears a striking resemblance to the ‘Morton Salt Girl’, the official mascot of Morton Salt.

It wasn’t long before artists reimagined Luce in multiple different styles and different poses; the mascot even inspired Halloween costumes.

However, not everyone was impressed with the new anime girl from church; more traditional commentators saw the chibi mascot as an embarrassment, too modern and silly to represent their faith.

Some even compared the anime character’s name to the devil himself, Lucifer, but the supposed link was quickly debunked.

Many commentators urged traditionalists to lighten up, and joked about the cultural divide between Luce fans and haters.

Brightly colored cartoon characters are a fun, inoffensive way to appeal to youth, and the Catholic Church could lose its image as a stuffy, archaic institution.

Although Luce has already had her big online introduction, the character will make her official debut at the Lucca Comics & Games Convention in Lucca, Italy, in the first week of November.

Luce will also appear as the Vatican’s mascot at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, where she will be used to promote the theme ‘Beauty Brings Hope’.

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