By Catholic News Agency
THE Vatican introduced an anime-style mascot named Luce to represent Catholic pilgrims in the 2025 Jubilee year on Monday, Oct 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 renditions of Luce (pronounced Lu-Chay) popped up on social media websites such as Facebook, X, Reddit, and TikTok and have been circulating the platforms.
The character has become particularly popular with Catholic meme accounts and groups but also has a presence in non-Catholic spaces, such as with 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 surpassed $50 million.
Luce’s symbolism
Luce, which is Italian for “light,” is a blue-haired mascot who wears a rosary around her neck and a yellow raincoat that is meant to symbolize journeying through life’s storms and reflect the color of the Vatican flag. She wears green muddy boots that represent a long and difficult journey and carries a staff meant to symbolize the pilgrimage toward eternity.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization commissioned the creation of the character, which was designed by Italian artist Simone Legno, who owns the company tokidoki, which creates products with Japanese-inspired designs. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organizer for the jubilee, unveiled the mascot during a news conference.
Many of the Luce-inspired memes invoke Christian messages of prayer and warding off the devil. One popular meme, which parodies a famous scene from “The Shining,” shows Luce use her staff to break a hole into a wooden door and stick her face through the hole as the devil cowers in the corner. Some others depict Luce kneeling in prayer.
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