Meet Luce, Vatican’s first-ever mascot

CONNECTING TO THE FLOCK She’s no ordinary cartoon character. That cuteness is designed to help energize the Catholic faith among the new generation. —Photo from the Instagram page of Simone Legno/Tokidoki

MANILA, Philippines — The Vatican has unveiled its first-ever mascot “Luce,” the cheerful and hopeful face of the Roman Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year in 2025.

The launch of the anime-style girl mascot named after the Italian word for “light” is part of the Church’s effort to engage younger members of the Catholic faith during the Jubilee Year, which is celebrated every 25 years.

At a press conference on Monday (Tuesday night in Manila), Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, said the mascot was designed to reflect “the pop culture so beloved by our young people nowadays.”

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Clad in a bright yellow sailor’s raincoat (representing the flag of the Holy See and journeying through life’s storms) and mud-stained green boots (symbolizing humility and a long, arduous journey), Luce’s mission is to guide young pilgrims toward hope and faith with her friends.

A shell is seen glimmering in each of her eyes to symbolize “the hope of the heart, and the perseverance of faith,” Fischella said.

She also carries a bordone, or walking stick, and wears a rosary to represent a pilgrimage of life filled with deep prayer.

Friends, companions

Luce is accompanied by her loyal companions—the dog “Santino,” the dove “Aura” and the angel “Iubi”—along with other friends wearing bright-colored capes, or sanrocchinos, “Fe,” “Xin” and “Sky.”

The characters were designed by Simone Legno, the Italian co-founder of the pop culture brand tokidoki, which gained popularity due to its “kawaii” (cute and endearing in Japanese) -inspired artworks and merchandise.

“I hope that the pilgrim Luce and her traveling friends can represent the sentiments that resonate in the hearts of the younger generations,” Legno said in a post on Instagram.

The mascot will debut this week at the Lucca Comics and Games–Italy’s celebrated convention for comics and video games – where the Catholic Church will host a space dedicated to “Luce and Friends.”

This will be the first time that a Vatican dicastery participates in a comic convention.

Fisichella said he hoped taking part in the convention “will allow us to speak to younger generations about the theme of hope, which is more central than ever in the evangelical message.”

Luce will also be the face of the Holy See at Expo 2025 from April to October in Osaka, Japan, where she will represent the Vatican’s pavilion theme, “Beauty Brings Hope,” alongside Caravaggio’s “The Entombment of Christ,” a painting that will be temporarily on loan from the Vatican Museums for the expo.

Since her unveiling, Luce has quickly become a popular topic on online forums and social media platforms, especially in gaming and anime circles.

30 million pilgrims

A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage in the Catholic Church. It typically takes place once every quarter-century, though the Pope can call for extraordinary jubilee years more often, such as in the case of the 2016 Year of Mercy or the 2013 Year of Faith.

The jubilee year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, welcoming an anticipated 30 million pilgrims into Rome by the time the Holy Year ends on Jan. 6, 2026.

In his “bull of indiction,” the document formally proclaiming the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis wrote that during the occasion, he will have close to his heart “prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, feel daily the harshness of detention and its restrictions, lack of affection and, in more than a few cases, lack of respect for their persons.”

The Holy Father also called on governments around the world to “undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope” for incarcerated persons during the Holy Year, such as expanding forms of amnesty and social reintegration programs.