AN ANIME-STYLE character called Luce is the mascot of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, which will officially begin tomorrow evening.
Luce — which means “light” in Italian and Latin — is intended to engage a younger audience throughout the Church’s Jubilee Year.
Jubilee Years happen every 25 years within the Church, and extraordinary jubilees can also be called outside this timeframe, such as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016.
The theme of this Jubilee Year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, with the Church aiming to highlight the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of Covid-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis.
Luce has been designed to look like a pilgrim, with a mission rosary around her neck and a yellow raincoat, which is both a nod to the Vatican flag and to journeying through life’s storms.
Her muddy boots represent a long and difficult journey, while her staff “symbolises the pilgrimage of life, a journey toward eternity”.
Scallop shells are also reflected in her eyes, with these shells being the symbol of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, pointing the pilgrim in the right direction towards the Cathedral.
Luce is joined on her pilgrim’s journey by several friends – Fe, Xin, and Sky – a dog, and a dove, which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Fe means “faith” in Spanish while Xin is Chinese for “mind”.
Italian artist Simone Legno designed Luce and he is best known for his role in founding tokidoki, which is an anime-inspired lifestyle brand.
In a post on Instagram, Legno said it was “surreal” to have meetings inside the Vatican as part of this “truly historic project”.
“The Jubilee is undoubtedly a unique opportunity for encounter and dialogue for millions of people, including many young people,” said Legno.
“I hope that the pilgrim Luce and her traveling friends, can represent the sentiments that resonate in the hearts of the younger generations.”
Meanwhile, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organiser for the jubilee, said the creation of Luce is part of the Church’s goal to engage with “the pop culture so beloved by our young people”.
Luce had her formal debut in October at the Lucca Comics and Games in Italy.
It’s an annual comic book and gaming convention and is the largest comic festival in Europe, with close to 300,000 people attending this year’s event.
Luce will also make an appearance at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, which will run from April to October.
While many within the Church warmly welcomed the new pop culture mascot, some were critical and falsely claimed the name was an allusion to Lucifer, the name of the Devil in Christian theology.
Other conservative Catholics criticised artist Simone Legno for his and his company’s support of Pride.
Legno said designing Luce had been a “marvellous experience and a joyful light that I will bring within me for the rest of my life”.
He grew up in a Catholic family in Rome and thanked that Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization for “opening its doors to my art”.
Jubilee Year
The 2025 Jubilee Year will officially begin tomorrow on Christmas Eve, when Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica.
These doors only open during Jubilee Years, in a tradition that goes back to Pope Alexander VI in 1500.
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At Pope Francis’s request, he will also personally open the Holy Door in the Rebibbia Prison of Rome on 26 December.
Rebibbia Prison housed Mehmet Ali Ağca during his time in custody in Italy following an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on 13 May, 1981.
Pope John Paul II visited Ağca in his cell in Rebibbia and forgave him for the shooting.
There are close to 1,600 inmates in the prison and Pope Francis said the message of the Jubilee Year, about seeking forgiveness and reconciliation, extends “especially to prisoners who endure the harshness of confinement”.
Pope Francis added that he hopes this act can be a “sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence”.
In anticipation of the Pope’s visit, inmates have been taking part in a workshop called Metamorphosis, where they turn driftwood from migrant barges into wooden nativity scenes.
The nativity scenes will be displayed during the opening of the Holy Door in the prison on 26 December.
The Jubilee Year will come to an end on 6 January, 2026 with the closing of the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica.
Meanwhile, teenager Carlos Acutis will become the first millennial saint during the Jubilee Year.
In November, Pope Francis announced that Acutis will be canonised on 27 April during the Jubilee of Teenagers, which is one of the major events taking place throughout the Jubilee Year.
The London-born Italian teenager died from leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15.
Acutis, who died in Monza, Italy, has been dubbed “the patron saint of the internet” and “God’s influencer”.
When Acutis was first declared ‘Blessed’ by the Church in 2020, Pope Francis remarked that it “demonstrated that holiness is attainable even in our modern world.”