When the Vatican unveils its bizarre new anime girl mascot, we have to ask: Isn’t this a mortal sin?

This is just a sentence I never thought I’d write in my life: The Vatican introduces its anime girl mascot to the world.

No, don’t worry, you won’t lose it, you read that right! The Vatican has an anime girl mascot. According to the Catholic News Service yesterday, Ruth is a girl wearing a yellow raincoat, with big blue eyes that can be seen everywhere in anime, and also accompanied by blue hair. Her name means “light” in Italian, and she clearly exists to help attract a younger audience – Archbishop Fisichella explained that the mascot was inspired by the Church’s “even though life is so beloved by our young people” ‘s desire in popular culture. I mean, hey, anime is really popular right now, so you can’t say churches don’t know where to look when they’re looking for something to get kids interested in religion.

Luce is designed by Simone Legno, the Italian co-founder of Japanese-inspired pop culture brand tokidoki, whose art you may have seen on bags or stickers and similar items work. Lenio didn’t just make a mascot either, Luce also had a group of friends like Fey, Xin and Sky, all of whom had their own colorful jackets. Luce’s whole purpose is that she hopes to use her dog Santino (hence her little walking stick) to guide young pilgrims toward hope and faith. Lenio said he hopes “Luce represents the emotions that resonate in the hearts of younger generations.”

The whole thing is very strange, but who knows if it actually works. I mean, there’s a lot of religious symbolism in anime, just look at Neon Genesis Evangelion (this series is probably not the best example since all the cross imagery technically refers to Ultramar and not Christianity) . Also, seriously, is this a sin? Maybe because the consumerism associated with anime characters etc. is encouraged to some extent? Anyway, I just saw someone on Countdown saying Luce was the best girl.