Sophie Cruz broke through the barriers during the papal parade and handed the pontiff a letter and a T-shirt in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.
Pope Francis gestured for the little girl to approach the pope mobile after security initially tried to stop the cute messenger. The 5-year-old girl from Los Angeles handed him a bright yellow T-shirt, a colorful drawing and a letter detailing her fears that her parents will be deported.
The Pope then kissed the little girl on the cheek after one security accepted her gifts and another lifted her up for the face-to-face with the pontiff, Twitchy informed.
Sophie spoke to the Pop about her undocumented parents. "Pope Francis, I want to tell you that my heart is sad, and I would like to ask you to speak with the president and the Congress legalizing my parents - because every day I am scared that one day [ICE] will take them away from me," she told the Pope in her letter.
"I believe I have the right to live with my parents," Sophie said later. "I have the right to be happy."
The US-born youngster traveled to Washington with an immigrant advocacy group. Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional is a Los Angeles-based organization which organized the trip to Washington from California for six kids and 19 adults. Group director Gloria Saucedo said they hoped to deliver their message on immigration.
"My dad works very hard in a factory galvanizing pieces of metal," the pigtailed kid added. "All immigrants just like my dad feed this country. They deserve to live with dignity. They deserve to live with respect."
Sophie's father Raul Cruz scribbled the encounter up to divine intervention, New York Daily News reported. "It was a miracle," he said in Spanish. "It was a miracle that the Pope saw our girl and selected her to bless her."
