FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — When Jason Whitehead first saw the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee mascot, Luce, it “was a bit of a surprise,” he said.
The anime-style character was a far cry from the traditional Roman Catholic style art the Fort Worth Diocese’s director of the department for evangelization and catechesis was familiar with. The cartoon character, with her scallop shell eyes — a traditional symbol of pilgrimage and hope — yellow raincoat, muddy boots, missionary cross and pilgrim’s staff, was a bid to engage younger Catholics, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, chief organizer for the Jubilee year.
The Jubilee or Holy Year, celebrated every 25 years, is an opportunity for Catholic faithful to visit Rome in search of spiritual replenishment or forgiveness of sins. Officially kicked off with the opening of the sealed holy doors on Dec. 24, this year’s Jubilee has the theme “Pilgrims of Hope” and is expected to bring over 30 million visitors to the Vatican.
Luce’s pilgrimage attire is meant to reflect the colors of the Vatican flag and symbolize journeying through life’s storms. Her eyes feature scallop shells, a traditional symbol of pilgrimage and hope. Luce, or “light” in Italian, was designed by Italian artist Simone Legno. His company, tokidoki, draws from Legno’s “deep love of Japan and fascination with world cultures.”
The official mascot for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year is named Luce, which is Italian for “light.” (Simone Legno/tokidoki/Vatican Media)
Interacting and connecting with young Catholics in 2025 means engaging in pop culture and social media, said Whitehead, whose role overseeing how the faith is taught within the Fort Worth Diocese includes vetting curricula and guest speakers and helping pastors interview candidates for parish youth ministers and religious education coordinators.
“Once Luce was revealed, I was naturally curious as to what was going on and I came to find out just how popular anime and Japanese art is within youth culture, and within the general comic book world,” Whitehead said.
Millennials and Generation Z make up 66% of the anime-watching population in the U.S., according to 2022 surveys by Polygon and Vox Media. Some young consumers of the genre consider it their “preferred go-to media.”
The mascot has gone viral online since its unveiling in late October, amassing thousands of memes and art renditions in both Catholic and secular online groups.
In a CatholicMemes subreddit, a Luce meme template — styled after a popular meme with stills from Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video — uses Scripture and other words to talk about the faith.
A meme account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with over 14,000 followers reposts various fan art renditions of Luce. The mascot has also inspired the creation of the Luce Token, a cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $50 million.
Her popularity has gained both fans and critics online, Whitehead said.
“This is brand-new for the Vatican, and this is why it’s causing a bit of an uproar because, to be fair, Luce is not what you would generally consider traditional Catholic art,” he said.
The Vatican has faced criticism for the decision to commission the art from tokidoki, which sells two products under its LGBTQ “Pride” section. The company has also previously partnered with Lovehoney, a brand that sells adult sexual products.
Others have called her anime-like style “dumbed-down Catholicism,” questioning how “a vaguely androgynous, although putatively female, anime character” is expected to draw young people to the faith, George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow of Washington, D.C.’s Ethics and Public Policy Center who holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, wrote in December.
The Catholic Church is not using Luce just for the Holy Year, Whitehead said, but instead to engage with youth in other spaces where mascots are more common.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization hosted a space dedicated to “Luce and Friends” at Italy’s Lucca Comics and Games convention in late October and early November, marking the first time the dicastery participated in a comics convention.
“In my experience, once people know what exactly is this and why we are doing it, I have found, at least everyone I’ve spoken to, it makes sense to them,” Whitehead said.
Luce, along with her trusty dog Santiago and other pilgrim friends, Fe, Xin and Sky, will be going to Osaka, Japan, in April in the Holy See’s pavilion at Expo 2025.
In the meantime, the faithful have posted Luce sightings on banners, as a large inflatable and as a poster inside churches. Those who make their pilgrimage to Rome can purchase keychains, pins and PopSockets of Luce and her friends displayed along the shelves and walls of the Jubilee Official Store.
This article was produced as part of the RNS/Interfaith America Religion Journalism Fellowship.