Live, Laugh, Luce

[Michie]

My heart sank when I saw Monday’s news of the Vatican’s unveiling of Luce, a cartoon mascotintended 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:

Continued below.

Live, Laugh, Luce

A Gen Z employee at Catholic Answers reflects on the Vatican's new mascot, Luce. Is she cool, cringe, or a third thing? Read here.

www.catholic.com

 

[Michie]

Luce Meets The Lutheran Satire Gang – The American Catholic

the-american-catholic.com

 

[Michie]

The cult of cuteness is revolting

unherd.com

 

[Michie]

The "Luce" mascot belongs on a white windowless van full of candy and video games parked near a playground.​

Vatican Hires LGBT Maker of Sex Toys to Produce Creepy Anime "Mascot" Best Suited to Groomers - The Stream

The Vatican produced a mascot for its Jubilee Year that reminds many of anime porn, and was created by a sex toy designer.

stream.org

 

[RileyG]

The "Luce" mascot belongs on a white windowless van full of candy and video games parked near a playground.​

Vatican Hires LGBT Maker of Sex Toys to Produce Creepy Anime "Mascot" Best Suited to Groomers - The Stream

The Vatican produced a mascot for its Jubilee Year that reminds many of anime porn, and was created by a sex toy designer.

stream.org

Ugh. Lord have mercy

 

[Michie]

Ugh. Lord have mercy

Isn’t it one of the lamest attempts to be relevant you’ve ever seen? It cheapens everything then when you look into the so-called artist… why in the world would he be hired in the first place??? Super creepy imo.

 

[Michie]

Vatican pays gay pride and sex toys artist to design Jubilee mascot

The Vatican has employed an artist known for designing art for gay pride events and sex toys to design the mascot for the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee

catholicvote.org

 

[RileyG]

Isn’t it one of the lamest attempts to be relevant you’ve ever seen? It cheapens everything then when you look into the so-called artist… why in the world would he be hired in the first place??? Super creepy imo.

Agreed.

 

[Wolseley]

All I can do is shake my head.

I could say more, but it would get me suspended. Again.

 

[JSRG]

Isn’t it one of the lamest attempts to be relevant you’ve ever seen?

I wouldn't say so, considering unlike other attempts to be relevant, it seems to be working. People actually did take notice of this. As your own link went on to say:

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.”

 

[Michie]

I wouldn't say so, considering unlike other attempts to be relevant, it seems to be working. People actually did take notice of this. As your own link went on to say:

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.”

I think it’s lame and the artist/company this character represents and brings to mind is way out of line imo. The little weird anime character? Just meaningless.

 

[Michie]

Vatican’s anime-style mascot Luce goes viral on internet

The Vatican introduced an anime-style mascot named Luce to represent Catholic pilgrims in the 2025 Jubilee year on Monday, Oct. 28.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[mourningdove~]

What I think is unfortunate is that Catholicism historically has so much beautiful art within it. To use this 'plain little Jane' mascot to represent the Church just seems like such a waste.

 

[RileyG]

What I think is unfortunate is that Catholicism historically has so much beautiful art within it. To use this 'plain little Jane' mascot to represent the Church just seems like such a waste.

Yup. I entirely agree. Reminds me of Buddy Christ from the movie Dogma.

 

[Michie]

Yup. I entirely agree. Reminds me of Buddy Christ from the movie Dogma.

Anime is not inspirational. And having it created from what is basically a porn biz is just gross.

 

[RileyG]

Anime is not inspirational. And having it created from what is basically a porn biz is just gross.

Yup. Hopefully they get rid of her and issue an apology...maybe?

 

[Michie]

Yup. Hopefully they get rid of her and issue an apology...maybe?

Don’t hold your breath…

 

[RileyG]

Don’t hold your breath…

Who knows?

SMH

 

[JSRG]

Anime is not inspirational. And having it created from what is basically a porn biz is just gross.

I don't think anime can't be inspiration, but more importantly Tokidoki isn't "basically a porn biz." What people point to as evidence for that is them previously doing work about 7 years ago with a company that makes sex toys, where Tokidoki produced designs for them (I don't think Tokidoki actually sold any of them themselves). But I looked at some of them and there's actually nothing even remotely pornographic on them, at least the ones I saw. Obviously the products themselves were going to be used for sexual purposes, but they aren't actually pornographic.

Maybe it's not a good look to hire a company that worked on something like that in the past, but it's hard to call them a "porn biz" because of one collaboration from 7 years ago that didn't actually involve porn.

 

[Wolseley]

Didn't anime arise from hentai? Or was it the other way around?