Cardinal Zen criticizes Vatican jubilee mascot ‘Luce,’ calls for patron saint instead
Cardinal Joseph Zen criticized the Vatican’s anime-style Jubilee mascot ‘Luce,’ created by a company linked to pro-LGBT merchandise, as ‘something superstitious’ as he called for a greater focus on faith and the grace of the jubilee over commercial appeal.
Cdl. Zen at Pope
Benedict’s funeral on January 5, 2023, at St. Peter's Square, Vatican
CityMichael Haynes/LifeSiteNews
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(LifeSiteNews) — Commenting on the notorious Vatican mascot for the Jubilee Year of 2025, Cardinal Joseph Zen questioned the reasoning for having a secular-inspired mascot rather than a patron saint.
“Does it make sense to have a mascot for the Jubilee? Or would it not have been better to choose a Patron Saint?” wrote the emeritus Hong Kong cardinal.
In a multi-lingual commentary published on his blog, Zen questioned the rationale behind the Vatican choosing a mascot for the 2025 Jubilee Year. Unveiled to the press in October last year, the mascot is an anime-inspired character created by Italian artist Simone Legno, whose company Tokidoki has promoted “LGBT pride,” selling “pride”-themed merchandise such as digital wallpapers, “art,” and hats on its website.
Named “Luce,” the mascot quickly became a viral internet phenomenon. Luce (meaning light) is a female pilgrim with vivid blue hair. Wearing a yellow raincoat and muddy boots, the mascot carries a staff, and a multi-colored rosary around her neck. The mascot is now available as a merchandising opportunity for the Vatican.
Subsequent research highlighted that the company also collaborated in selling adult sex toys made by British company “Lovehoney” in 2016.
READ: Vatican’s Jubilee Year mascot owned and created by pro-LGBT company linked to adult sex toy designs
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Referencing the viral images of the mascot, Zen wrote that much of the criticism he had seen of it was “because the company that produced it has the reputation of having several products that we Catholics would call less than decent.”
But aside from this aspect, he questioned the decision to have a mascot for the Jubilee more generally, noting how a mascot is understood as a form of “lucky charm,” whereas a Jubilee is an occasion of real spiritual fruits:
But what is a mascot? Something that is considered a “fortune bringer” (a “lucky charm”). Now doesn’t this imply something superstitious? (Perhaps general usage has diluted this superstitious sense a lot and so we should not give it too much importance.)
But isn’t the Jubilee already a great fortune in itself? It commemorates the birth of the Savior. In order for the fruits of this year of grace to be more abundant, wouldn’t it have been better to choose a heavenly Patron?
Running from December 24, 2024, through January 6, 2026, the 2025 Jubilee Yearhas been given the theme of “Spes non confundit,” or “hope does not disappoint.”
READ: How to gain a plenary indulgence during the 2025 Jubilee year
The Jubilee also coincides with the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea which condemned Arianism and reiterated Catholic teaching on Christ being both true God and true man – teaching which had been publicly defended by St. Athanasius at much personal cost.
It is an anniversary which has given increased motivation to ecumenical endeavors between the Vatican and Christian churches.
Citing this, Zen opined that “[w]ould it not be fitting for us to take Saint Athanasius as our Patron of this Jubilee Year?”
He also pointed to 2025 as the 60th anniversary of the closure of the Second Vatican Council, suggesting that “a good start to the Jubilee Year should be a serious study of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes) with absolute respect for the hermeneutic of continuity, emphasized so many times by Pope Benedict XVI.”
“I insist that these documents must be understood in the continuity of the authentic Magisterium,” added Zen.
The Chinese prelate – created cardinal in 2006 and who turned 93 earlier this month – also decried how some people had sought to manipulate the Second Vatican Council for their own ends:
Unfortunately, there are those who, putting aside the truly precious fruit of the Council, and proclaiming instead a so-called “spirit of the Council,” have tried to tamper with the Sacred Tradition of the Church: renewal becomes reform, updating becomes conversion to the “spirit of the times.”
Notwithstanding his geographical distance from Rome, Zen has been particularly vocal in recent years in raising concerns about moral and doctrinal issues in Church life. This has included making repeated calls for the defense of Catholic teaching in light of Fiducia Supplicans’ promotion of same-sex blessings, along with similarly regular warnings about the potential of the Synod on Synodality to “overthrow” the Church’s hierarchy and usher in doctrinal confusion.
Writing in November, Zen opined that Pope Francis uses synods to “change the Church’s doctrines or disciplines each time rather than discuss how to safeguard these doctrines and disciplines.”
The cardinal was arrested by authorities in 2022 under the terms of the draconian 2020 National Security Law and, though he pleaded not guilty, was fined HK $4,000 ($512) for reportedly not properly registering the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund.
Zen’s trial was widely condemned by activists across the world, and regularly raised in the U.S. Congress and U.K. Parliament.
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- Council of Nicaea
- Joseph Zen
- Lovehoney
- Luce
- Simone Legno
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- Tokidoki
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