Reactionary Piece to “Who Is ‘Luce’?—The Anime Mascot Of The Catholic Church, Explained” A Mascot that Appeals to Markets but not Converts

The Vatican debuts its Jubilee Year 2025 mascot: Luce & Friends, a Japanese-inspired anime character designed by Tokidoki to encourage pilgrimage to holy sites. Within 48 hours of her debut, thousands of fan art and netizens claimed Luce as their “Catholic wai-fu (wife)." This groundbreaking campaign is well received and well adored, but equally well distrusted, hated, and sexualized—this is the age we are in.

This topic is so sensitive that I struggle to address it without full qualifications. However, I continue as a humble cuteness enthusiast who would share my authentic opinions on the mascot without being judgmental or disrespectful to the religion.

Luce’s Cuteness: Aesthetic and Beyond

Defining Cuteness: Aesthetic, Character, and Culture

As a Japanese anime fan, I think the quintessence of the “cuteness” of Japanese anime characters is imperfection, gentleness and playfulness. Some characters aren’t visually or aesthetically “cute.” But you feel their cuteness after getting to know some of its back stories and characters. As Daniel Harris suggests, “[s]omething becomes cute not necessarily because of a quality but because of a quality it lacks, a certain neediness and inability to stand alone.” So, is Luce the case?

Luce’s Aesthetic

From an aesthetic perspective, Luce is cute, though it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Luce is a deliberate design by Tokidoki who has already cracked the cuteness codes: the “baby schema” formula (big eyes, small nose, and rounded face), proportional imbalance, clean shapes, and a bright and warm colour palette. I have read the setting of Luce, and I appreciate the artist’s efforts in blending cute elements with multiple spiritual motifs.

Luce’s Character

As a mascot for promoting the pilgrimage, I understand it is difficult to shape Luce’s playfulness (not from the memes) and imperfection (perhaps the dirt on her shoes?). Still, Luce and her friends can show more nuanced idiosyncrasies or illustrate modern concepts related to Jubilee, such as her love for pizza (Pope Francis loves Pizza), debt forgiveness, and land redistribution, to make audiences more connected.

Culture Resonance: “Be Yourself”?

When anime becomes a lingua franca, the use of a heavily Japanese-inspired aesthetic makes me feel Luce lacks a distinctive personality as it does not resonate with where and how she comes from. Look at the Expo 2025 MyakuMyaku’s Friends below; the "unified" cute aesthetics are terrifying: Italia-chan and Luce look just like twin sisters. It is upsetting to see some mascots look so alike to appeal to the Expo’s Japanese context, and ironically, the Japanese mascot (upper right-hand corner) has quite an edgy design.

As Hofstede suggests, cultural resonance is also a non-visual factor that shapes cuteness by enhancing emotional response. The Vatican is prolific in producing great works of art and succeeded many years ago with novel art forms. However, the church could have made a bolder decision to be itself and its style and aesthetic. Instead of being inspired by a culture from elsewhere, it may be capable of connecting with younger generations of Western countries and producing even more surprising feedback.

The Paradoxical “Reconciliation”

While I acknowledge Luce’s cuteness and the Church’s effort to globalize and connect their fellow kids, Luce’s popularity might inadvertently distract people from the Church’s unresolved scandal and historical atrocities.

Reconciliation with the victim's image

I may have overreacted at first, feeling uncomfortable seeing a little anime-girl image chosen as a religious mascot. However, My concerns deepened when I noticed how some netizens are not just adoring but sexualizing her, which raised more questions about whether the Church has been sensitive enough to scrutinize an anime character and predict possible unintended consequences — especially given its target audience is the younger generation. .

Considering they have unsettled child sexual abuse scandals, the decision feels thoughtless and hypocritical to me. The cute image could evoke painful associations for some victims, and they are using a young girl figure to manifest the value of "forgiveness of sins" while forgiving their perpetrators, which seems to trivialize the impact of these unresolved issues.

Plenty of options exist that could have avoided such controversy and embarrassment. It could be an animal (Luce’s companions are a dove and dog) or a wise older man (Aren't Jesus adorable?). While Luce has friends of diverse ethnicities and genders, they still decided, as if calculated, to use an anime-loli image as the "centre" of the campaign. This option is most likely to be profitable yet, at the same time, most likely to be sexualized and objectified, as has already been seen in the number of fanart porn on the website Rule 34, a site known for an internet meme "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."

The “proliferation” of Luce’s fanart porn on Rule 34 (as of 24 Jan 2025): 307.

But let’s (try to) be fair. The Church has underperformed in addressing its systematic failures. But the Luce project itself seems to reflect genuine intentions and humility to connect with the youth using a more approachable, relatable “voice,” which is also a reconciliation to rebuild trust with the community within some of their possible means (those who suggest Luce might also be our younger generation). Reform takes time. And they took the first humble step.

A comment on Reddit stood out to me: "The statue of David was’ modernist realism art when it came out.” Similarly, perhaps we should remain open to new art forms if “reconciliation” and “diversity” are values that truly matter to us.

Intention and Challenges: A successful market campaign over missionary?

I am not claiming blasphemy, sacrilegious things, or that Luce is creating idolatry. Luce is just a mascot for celebrating the Jubilee year, and Catholics seem generally more receptive to this than some other Christian denominations. However, I am curious whether the Church clearly understands its target audience or whether it intentionally ties it to a profit-making company and makes it marketable instead of a missionary campaign.

Missionary and marketable campaigns are not mutually exclusive

Official Luce merchandise has been launched, such as plush toys, keychains, bracelets, and pins. These are well-designed, and a few have gone out of stock. The Luce plush toy is something I would like to cuddle with. The sales of Luce products may not suggest they advocate materialism. Indeed, Missionary and marketable campaigns are not mutually exclusive, but they could be more compatible. For instance, including comic books or graphic novels featuring "Luce & Friends" could provide readers with an engaging yet educational way to explore the Jubilee's teachings in greater depth, bridging the gap between the commercial appeal of the campaign and its spiritual mission.

Too Cute to be Distracting

Using cuteness to attract younger generations risks distracting from Catholicism's core focus. People with an authentic conversion to Catholicism should be motivated by its practical teachings. Even if the younger generation is flocking to the Church because of the Luce, I wonder if they are impressed by God or the Tokidoki. I agree with Greif's suggestion in Against Everything that we should value "age and accomplishment, not emptiness and newness." How they represent Luce also suggests and affirms specific values that may have gone viral but are not necessarily sound. A silver lining that I observed is that netizens (between non-Catholic and Catholic) seriously discuss different symbols of Luce and their relevance with the Jubilee, which surprisingly connects alienated communities and makes the campaign meaningful and impactful.

Conclusion

Luce & Friends is an endearing mascot designed with passion and kindness. The Church’s promotion of an adorable mascot designed by a non-Catholic artist is commendable and bold. Although I have reservations about Luce’s inner cuteness and religious impact, I do not mean to underestimate its aesthetic and cultural value. The Luce project is a milestone for a religion with a legacy and influence. See how many other religions in the world could do the same.

There are voices of distrust and hatred toward Luce. A forgotten truth is that during the Baroque period, people also accused the Church of overshadowing spiritual devotion with extravagance. But critiques never undermine its greatness. While Luce is undeniably "cute," the campaign's triumph will not lie in how much it has earned but in how it addresses the more profound, unresolved issues of justice, reform, and connection that continue to shake the Church.

Reconciliation and connection are a mutual effort — constructive engagement between the Atheists, Pagans and Catholics to make this mascot have a "voice" is also "cute." I love Luce, and I love some wholesome online community that is protecting Luce. Although some of them are not religious, this is the moment when I feel the campaign has succeeded. The kindest and most impactful campaign for the Church would not be a cute mascot, but how they unintentionally unified people towards commitment to justice and inclusivity—now that would be genuinely "cute." Time will tell.

Wholesome fanarts and community of Luce 💌