Francis and Sophie's secret: girl who hugged pope delivers immigration plea

Five-year-old Sophie Cruz makes it past security to greet Pope Francis at parade before hand delivering letter asking pontiff to push for US immigration reform

Five-year-old Sophie Cruz went to Washington with a letter for Pope Francis.
Like thousands of people on Wednesday, she waited anxiously for the “people’s pope” to pass by on the National Mall. Francis had said he wanted to step out of the popemobile, spontaneously, and greet the American people. But he hadn’t; the security threat was too great, the barriers too many.
As Francis passed, Sophie slipped past the barricade and started to walk toward the popemobile. The security guards stopped her in her tracks.
But then the papal procession stopped, too; suddenly, the pope beckoned the little girl. A guard carried Sophie to Francis, and the “son of an immigrant family” – as the pope boldly called himself next to Barack Obama earlier in the morning – embraced the daughter of another immigrant family, in the middle of the street, in a moment instantly beamed across the world.
But beyond the very public hug, Sophie’s letter carried its own secret message: she travelled with her father Raúl and other immigration activists to Washington to see the pope – and push for immigration reform.