As Francis drew nearer and nearer in his open-sided popemobile and the crowd in Washington whooped, squealed and quivered, the little girl with black pigtails spotted her chance.
Her name was Sofia Cruz, and her story soon went around the world: how a five-year-old had the bravado to deliver a message to the pope on behalf of the United States' millions of undocumented migrants.
Joseph Reblando, another pope-greeter, happened to be standing right next to the girl and her dad and caught it all on film.
Thus went one small slice of Pope Francis' ride through crowds of faithful in downtown Washington on Wednesday, along the National Mall, past the Washington Monument, after talks with President Barack Obama during his first U.S. visit.
The waiting crowd roared when Obama noted the U.S. is home to some 70 million Catholics, and cheered again when the pope said, in halting English, "God Bless America".
One older Catholic, retired electrical engineer Don Sasnacht, 72, called Francis amazing and praised his communications skills in particular.
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