The Vatican Aims to Attract Kids with Cute Anime-Inspired Cartoon Mascot Named 'Luce'

The Vatican's new mascot is a good faith effort at attracting the next generation of devotees of Catholicism.

Ahead of Holy Year 2025, also referred to as the 2025 Jubilee Year, the Vatican announced its official mascot is an anime character named "Luce," which means light in Italian.

Archbishop Fisichella said on Monday that Luce was chosen because the Church wants "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth" and she represents "a symbol of the hope of the heart."

Luce is depicted as a pilgrim in a yellow raincoat and mud-stained boots with glowing eyes shaped like scallop shells, which symbolize pilgrimage and hope, according to the Catholic News Agency. She is also wearing a missionary cross and carrying a pilgrim's staff.

The Anime character fits the "Pilgrims of Hope" theme for Holy Year 2025. It is viewed as a year of hope for a world suffering from war, an ongoing pandemic, and climate crisis, according to Technology Inquirer.

Luce will make her debut at the Lucca Comics and Games convention in Italy, taking place this week, and will represent the Holy See at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, next year, per the CNA.

She was designed by Simone Legno and is accompanied by a dog, Santino, and her friends Fe, Xin, and Sky.