Quantcast
Channel: Gawker
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 24829

5-Year-Old Girl Breaks Through Police Barrier to Educate the Pope on Immigration Reform

$
0
0

A five-year-old girl has become one of the few mortals with whom the Pope has held congress on his trip to the U.S. this week.

A video of the incident shows Sophie Cruz breaking free of a police barrier during the Pope Francis’ slow crawl in front of the White House on Wednesday. A security officer scoops her up and presents her to the pope, who kisses her on the cheek.

The daughter of two undocumented immigrants, Sophie gave the pope a hand-colored drawing that read, “My friends and I love each other no matter our skin color.” The gift was meant as a way to gain attention to the plight of people like her parents, whom she fears will be deported.

When a reporter asked what she was hoping would come of her audience with the Pope, Sophie said that she hoped it would put a spotlight on the need for immigration policy reform in the U.S.

“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 and legalizing my parents because every day I am scared that one day they will take them away from me.”

This isn’t the first time that activists have used children as heralds to gain attention for a cause. In 2014, animal activists helped a 13-year-old girl jump a police barricade at New York’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to protest a float built by SeaWorld. And last June, the same group that organized Sophie’s run to the Pope, La Hermandad, was inspired by a similar plan in Rome.

The Pope, of anyone, should know to listen to words that come out of the mouths of babes.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 24829

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>