Live, Laugh, Luce

My heart sank when I saw Monday’s news of the Vatican’s unveiling of Luce, a cartoon mascot intended to promote the upcoming Jubilee Year. After decades of attempts to make church cool and relevant had failed to reverse Christianity’s hemorrhaging of young people, Vatican leaders decided this was a perfect time to . . . try to make church cool and relevant.

In their own words:

“Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organizer for the jubilee, described the mascot as part of the Vatican’s goal to engage with ‘the pop culture so beloved by our young people.’”

Everybody say the line!

This was my gut reaction.

And yet!

At least some Catholics—across age groups!—are embracing Luce. Scores of fanart variants and memes have exploded into the zeitgeist. Of course, the outcry against Luce has been just as loud and passionate. But that’s not surprising; it is surprising to see this many young Catholics voice such full-throated approval for Luce, rather than roll their eyes at the umpteenth attempt by these old men to “appeal to the youth.”

So what’s going on here? As a Gen Z staffer at Catholic Answers whose job is literally to be online, I observe the following.

First and foremost: as an anime character, Luce instantly appeals to an obsessive demographic that overlaps with a significant portion of online Catholics (the “anime profile pic trad” is a well-known archetype). I have never taken interest in anime, so I couldn’t say why other fully-grown adults find it so captivating; suffice it to say that this subculture is a major driver in Luce’s initial positive reception. But I don’t think it’s the only one.

Second: Luce is undeniably adorable. Maybe you disagree, but I have to hand it to the creators: they nailed the look of childlike faith and innocence. And the pilgrimage symbols embedded in her character—muddy boots, Camino de Santiago shells in her eyes, pilgrim’s cross, and World Mission rosary—are subtle. Nothing evokes the overbearing “Jesus is COOL, kids!!” lunkheadedness of, say, VBS mascots.

Finally, I take these folks at their word: they think Luce is fun.

I find myself agreeing more as the days pass. If nothing else, a cute Catholic mascot makes great meme fodder—and the memes have been fantastic. But I think it runs deeper.

Most of the time, Catholic social media (especially X) is just not fun. People accuse each other of heresy, bicker and squabble over nonessentials, post and re-post vain platitudes, popesplain, refute the popesplainers, refute the refutation of the popesplainers, say unthinkable things about “the Jews,” and generally conduct themselves with a degree of arrogance that would make a saint convulse. Gongs clash and cymbals clang. Meanwhile, news breaks every day about another church scandal, another confusing statement from the pope, another example of why everything is too trad or not trad enough and why the Church is therefore doomed; and if that wasn’t enough, election season is coming to a head.

It’s all so tiresome.

Enter a wide-eyed child with a Vatican-yellow raincoat and an unflinching smile:

I get it. Luce is above it all. Our Lord tells us we must “change and become like little children” to enter the kingdom of heaven, and she portrays that in a disarming way. That’s why Luce has won me over.

However, memes, trends, and hype are fleeting. The buzz will die down, probably sooner than we expect. And then it will be time to face the real question: did this help save souls?

Well…

Maybe!

I mean, with God all things are possible, right? And he likes to work through the simple and the unexpected. We talk a lot in apologetics about the importance of planting a seed and letting God water it. I see no reason why this mascot, paired with an unusual outburst of online Catholic joy, can’t be a seed to outsiders.

But that’s speculation. Unfortunately, I have a more concrete reason to be pessimistic about a cartoon mascot’s salvific potential. You may be thinking about it already.

This move, like every move the Church makes these days, takes place in the shadow of a looming specter that hasn’t gone away since 2002. The institutional Church has yet to fully reckon with it and make complete restitution, and until such time, I can’t help but feel that a child cartoon mascot is just poor optics.

Father Paul Hedman puts it well:

Luce is a hit for some, but Vatican leaders can’t rest on their laurels. After the hype dies off, the stench of scandal will remain, still warding off souls. It takes more than a mascot to overcome that.