The
Francis
Effect
5-year-old girl breaks barricade
runs out to Pope and delivers
Immigration plea
A
5-year-old girl set social media afire after she ran out to
A bodyguard first tried to come near to pick her up and bring
Pope Francis during the parade around the Ellipse in the
her to the Pope, but she shied away. It wasn’t until Pope Francis
US.
gestured for her to come to him that she allowed the bodyguard to
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 pope mobile, spontaneously, and
greet the American people. But he hadn’t; the security threat was
too great, the barriers too many.
As Francis passed, the girl, who was identified as Sophie Cruz
from California slipped past the barricade and started to walk
toward the pope mobile. The security guards stopped her in her
tracks.
The moment was 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