Pope notes: Child hand delivers a letter to Francis

During the motorcade on the National Mall, Pope Francis stopped to kiss babies and children. One young girl got through the barrier and handed the Pope a letter.

At first, security stopped her, but the Pope signaled for her to come over. The crowd cheered as a guard lifted her to the Pope.

In a video posted on The Guardian, the girl, identified as 5-year-old Sophie Cruz from Los Angeles, reads the letter.

"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 in legalizing my parents because everyday I am scared that one day they will take them away from me," she says.

"All immigrants just like my dad need this country," she says.

Cruz describes herself as an "American citizen with Mexican roots." She says her parents immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Her father, Raul, had a yellow T-shirt that read "Papa Rescata DAPA!", according to the Guardian. The T-shirt's message asks the Pope to save the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, a program that seeks to postpone deportation for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Wednesday, which began with pomp and politics and ended with a controversial canonization, was the Pope's first full day in the United States. The six-day visit will take him later this week to New York, where he will address the United Nations, and Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, a large Catholic event that is expected to draw nearly a million pilgrims to papal Masses.

To see all of CNN's coverage of the Pope, visit CNN.com/PopeFrancis.

 

Meet the Pope

 

Pope Francis made two furry friends when he met Bo and Sunny inside the White House. The first pets are Portuguese water dogs. Sunny joined the family in 2013, four years after Bo arrived.

A present for the Pope

 

After President Barack Obama and the Pope held a private meeting, the President presented his guest with a one-of-a-kind gift: a sculpture of an ascending dove made from metal taken from the Statue of Liberty and wood that once grew in the White House garden.

Obama also gave the Pope a key from the Maryland home of Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was the first native-born U.S. citizen to become a saint.

 

Not everyone is a Francis fan

 

Outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, a group of protesters from the Women's Ordination Conference gathered as reporters and parishioners lined up for a glimpse of the Pope on Wednesday morning.

Margaret Johnson led them in a song: "Sister, Carry On."

For the group from the Women's Ordination Conference, she said, it's become a rallying cry for what some hope will be a "Catholic Spring" pushing the church to treat men and women equally.

"When Pope Francis talks about the poor and people who suffer and discounts women in the same breath, his message is really without integrity," Johnson said.

The massage therapist, who's also a board member of the group, said her involvement in the organization stemmed from the Vatican's censure of U.S. nuns in 2012.

News Courtesy: www.cnn.com