Bash the bishop
Not going to do a ‘told you so’ but how often have we said, don’t put your faith in leaders? The Church of England was founded by Henry VIII, the serial wife abuser and uxoricide. Mad at the Pope who wouldn’t allow him to divorce his first wife, Henry formed the Church of England, put himself in charge of it and disbanded Catholic monasteries, convents and religious institutions. As is the case up to the present day, a lot of wealth was held by these establishments. So Henry snaffled the lot.
In November 2024 the CEO of the C of E – known as the Archbishop of Canterbury – resigned after it was found that he had failed dramatically to safeguard the victims, young males, of a serial abuser. ‘The Bishop of Birkenhead said she couldn’t guarantee that abuse is not still going on in the Church. “We still have this institutional problem where we are not putting victims and survivors at the centre. In some ways, we are not a safe institution”’. The British monarch is always supreme head of the Church of England. Twenty six bishops including the Archbishop of Canterbury have a seat in the House of Lords and are entitled to vote.
Anime is animation, hand drawn or computer generated. It originated in Japan.
The Web says that in 2023 the global Anime industry was worth over thirty-one billion dollars. So what does anime have to do with religion?
The Catholic Church is holding a jubilee this year. Designated Pilgrims of Hope, it’s being held apparently as ‘a year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a climate crisis.’ Sure, that’s going to make a big difference to a world that continues to be beset by all the ills inherent in the capitalism system.
So, the church has, like football teams and various big business and military organisations, got itself a mascot. The mascot is of a young blue-haired, wide-eyed, cross-wearing female named Luce, Italian for light. The word ‘mascot’ comes from the French meaning ‘lucky charm.’ Sounds a bit secular to us. The resemblance to anime characters is unmistakable.
The Vatican said that the mascot was ‘part of the Vatican’s goal to engage with the pop culture so beloved by our young people’. She, Luce, (pronouns not specified), debuted at an Italian comics and games convention in October 2024. One assumes the ad agencies responsible for this are laughing all the way to the bank. Public reaction, as to any form of capitalist or religious propaganda, should be that of The Who – won’t get fooled again.
A more appropriate mascot would have been the Pardoner from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The equivalent of a snake-oil salesman, the Pardoner travelled around swindling folk, persuading them that if they bought his relics they would be absolved from their sins.
DC
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