Why did the pope announce anime mascots?

Tekkip20@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 200 points –

So some of you might have seen a trend as the Vatican announces their plans to bring god and anime on their side in real life.

The mascot is called Luce, cute anime girl with religious aspects to it.

But mama mia why did they do this for their event next year? It just seems totally unreal and I feel like I'm living in a simulation.

Never have i thought these zealous buggers would use anime influences in a bajillion years

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The Jubilee is a time of celebration for Catholics.

Traditionally, the Jubilee is held every 25 or 50 years and is a time to celebrate progress, free slaves (back when slaves were legal), forgive sins, etc etc.

In a great celebration, it makes sense to add a bit of pop culture flair. It's also common to focus on children and youth outreach during the Jubilee and an anime character does a lot for that.

As for Luce herself. The Jubilee is also a time of great pilgrimages. It's recommended to get your 'once in a lifetime's visits to Vatican City (or other local holy sites: Santiago de Compostela, Fatima, Guadalupe). As such, Luce is modeled after the image of Pilgrims: Pilgrim staff, raincoat and dirty boots.

Her eyes are of the seashell, a Catholic sign for pilgrims. The seashells guide pilgrims to holy sites (if you've ever been on the Camino, all the next locations are marked with Seashells).

I'm expecting that Luce (thanks to the seashell eyes) will count as an official signpost for the next year of pilgrimages. She's got incredibly well thought out symbology here.

Edit: I should also note that the raincoat has the 2025 Jubilee of Hope flag on it.

In case you didn't get what that green spot on the raincoat was.

I hadn't even noticed the shells or the flag, thanks for such a detailed post.

(back when slaves were legal)

You say this like we don't have legalized slaves right now.

Didn't believe you when reading this, apparently it is? Character doesn't look that weird and I'm completely surprised the vatican is modernizing this much

Luce the raincoat-clad anime girl in chibi style, meaning short, cutesy characters with big heads and stubby limbs

The big reveal is a huge wtf to my brain.

I’m still not convinced in this age of AI image generation.

Now see, my instinct is to just say "no......it must be AI. This doesn't make sense. It feels very off."

But then I remembered the last 8-23 years (depending on perspective) have felt very odd. And unrealistic.

Now add in tools that distort reality, and create false digital existences, and I have no more gauge for how to judge whats real. Are you real? Am I real? Am I in a coma? Are we in someone elses coma?

Who's to say?

Her boots are covered in the blood of innocent altar boys.

Propaganda hits mononomi. It's a critical strike!

The catholic church has been bleeding members for a while now. This is probably a “fellow kids” attempt to try to get younger people interested again.

Im getting dorra the explorer vibes. But maybe since they see how well shows like Bluey captivate a young audience, it make sense they would want in.

Animated characters allow for the bright flashy lights that keep attention of kids while also allowing you to not use a person who is fallible. You never have to worry about a person doing something nafarious in their personal life and it staining their organization. (Subway, Papa Johns, Sham Wow).

They are a company that basis their decisions on profits after all.

It's a marketing strategy. They have a product and they're trying to expand into an un/under-exploited market. What the product is just so happened to be religion, which is increasingly unpopular, archaic, restrictive, controlling, and fictional. They have fairly stringent rules and since the anime mascot doesn't violate them, they'll try it out and see if there's any returns.

It's a pretty low investment, and it's not even close to the first cartoon character made specifically to try and hook kids to a religion. It's only noteworthy because the format is slightly different than past efforts.

Archbishop Fisichella also unveiled the official mascot of the Holy Year 2025: “Luce” (Italian for light), a cartoon pilgrim dressed in a yellow raincoat, mud-stained boots, wearing a missionary cross and holding a pilgrim’s staff. Luce’s glowing eyes feature the shape of scallop shells, a traditional symbol of pilgrimage and hope.

The mascot, he said, was inspired by the church’s desire “to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth.”

Source :the dialog

Seems they're trying evangelize the kids and are going to where they are. Gives me Buddy Christ vibes to be honest.

Whoah didn't know the buddy christ meme came from that

Cuz like every major religion they're hemorrhaging believers and thus, money. Time to shake up the recruitment protocols.

Come to think of it, I've heard that all my life but never questioned it. Is it really true for all of them?

That religions are hemorrhaging believers? I think that depends a lot on region and general population wealth. Prosperity gospel shit (the more you donate, the more god will reward you) keeps attracting new believers thanks to their scammy tactics and promises, especially as anyone that "fails" to succeed just lacked faith (didn't donate enough) - this is especially true in poorer places.

this is bonkers (hadnt heard of it before) and honestly pretty funny considering that every time “god” in the western sense is used in anime the entity or entities are more often than not villainous monsters.

Christianity of all denominations is losing followers at a church-worrying rate. Yes, you'll always get those who are zealous or make it part of their identity and will never quit, and of course, the quiet - if you'll pardon the pun - masses who are ever faithful, but the churches don't fill up quite how they used to.

By getting the kids hooked on an ideology through a relatable, maybe even exciting, child-like character, they're hoping to (eventually) get people back into churches and get business booming again.

He didn't announce them. They came to us from God. They are here to help us attain a heavenly life.

"Yo big G, can you help us? Our planet is dying!" "Best I can do is official Catholic anime girl." "Understandable have a nice day."

The Pope learn that he were no match for the power of fumo so he brought about a fumo of his own creation to gain the power of fumo for the great fumo war

So that when they find his hard drives, he can say the person is actually 3,032 years old.

The mascot was specifically made to represent the Holy See at a Japanese expo. It's essentially the Vatican's government. Merchandise like this has always been a thing, it's just this is an official endorsement.

A couple years ago they introduced Buddy Christ to try and drum up some interest but it didn't go anywhere.

Also, why would a religious institution with a modern problem with child abuse is a child as an icon, seems pretty unaware.

Yeah, but that Cardinal Glick though. They should have made that guy pope.