WASHINGTON D.C. — I often joke that God is a journalist. Or at least studied journalism at some point. Why? Because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done nothing really special and an incredible moment just unfolded in front of me.
Today might be the best of them, however. I was a few feet away when Pope Francis plucked a little girl out of the crowd and hugged her from his Popemobile. The five-year-old girl, Sophia Cruz (that’s how the family spelled it, but other media is spelling it Sofia) was there as part of a group that had traveled from Los Angeles.
They wanted to speak to the pope about immigration reform, and the girl had already been on TV earlier in the day, The letter she handed him asked for help with the deportation of parents and the separation of families.
It was an incredible moment. The Pope, you might have heard, is struggling with sciatica on the trip. He has appeared old and frail on TV at times. But he looked like a spry young priest when he called for the girl, and you can see in his face how much he loves human contact.
The girl had tried to climb the barricade in front of her and was pushed back by security until the Pope called for her, and asked to see the letter she had written for him. When she returned to the crowd, it seemed she would faint. She was clearly overcome. She was famous instantly. A crush of journalists surrounded her; people there to see the Pope now wanted Sophia’s picture, too.
And that security guard? Well he went up to Sophia afterwards and said, “You are very brave.”
The crush of people around me was wild, and I’m lucky I got any shots at all. Frankly, as often happens, I was delighted to see what images popped up on my screen — I was just holding my camera overhead holding down the shutter, basically. As I said, God is a journalist. Or at least, sometimes, roots for them.
UPDATES:
My friend Sandra Lilley at NBC Latino just posted a story with even more more details about Sofia, and used a few of my photos.
CBS News says it has obtained the letter she handed the pope. Here’s a link to a Tweet with the picture
And here’s a link to a translation of the letter.
It reads, in part, “My heart is sad because I am scared that one day ICE will deport my parents.”
Here are far too many pictures of the scene because, well, can you ever see too many pictures of the Pope hugging an adorable little girl?
(Photos continue just below.)
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