It looks like the post-Vatican II church has done it again.
For the upcoming 2025 Jubilee, the Vatican has announced its mascot: an anime character named Luce. With a yellow raincoat, muddy gumboots, a Rosary and a pilgrim’s staff, she is apparently a pilgrim.
This mascot is an obvious attempt at marketing by using “the pop culture so beloved by our young people”.
Don’t get me wrong, I personally have a soft spot for anime. But this is tacky at best.
If this was an illustrated book or a series of such books to educate children and it happened to use manga/anime style, then it could work. But this is a mascot, the face of whatever it is representing. Unlike books, of which there are many, a mascot is by its nature singular even if there are secondary characters.
In other words, it’s unnecessary.
And then there’s the name Luce, which means “light” in Italian. Coming from today’s Vatican, one has to wonder whether it is a reference to Lucifer, the devil’s pre-fall name.
Granted, there is nothing wrong with light, the devil usurps and twists things (insofar as God permits). And we still use the name Lucia or Lucy in honor of the saint, but one wonders what the Vatican is really thinking.
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