{"id":5923,"date":"2014-04-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/las-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/"},"modified":"2014-04-01T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T10:00:00","slug":"l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"LA’s ‘little ambassador’ to Pope recalls encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope\u2019s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled to have met him.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhen I met the Pope I was very happy because he blessed me and told me he would talk to President Obama,\u201d Vargas told CNA shortly after her March 26 meeting with Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

\tVargas was chosen as the representative of a group of immigration reform advocates who asked the Pope to intercede for them with Pope Francis, with whom he was to meet the following day.<\/p>\n

\tShe was born in the U.S., and her father is currently imprisoned in Indiana and at risk of being deported; Vargas has not seen him for more than two years.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\t\u201cI needed to meet Pope Francis to explain my situation and that of my father to him,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cRight now he is in another state in the U.S. He has a deportation order and I am very afraid that they will deport him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tShe said that if she could meet with President Obama, \u201cI would tell him to please listen to Pope Francis, because he has a very important message for you: \u2018My father and thousands of other children and their families are in your hands, you have to help them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is unfair that he gets to be with his girls, while we have to be separated from our fathers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tVargas also gave Pope Francis some 1,500 letters from children like herself who suffer from living apart from their parents because of U.S. immigration law.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI told the Pope to please help us, because we are suffering. I was born in the United States, only my parents are Mexican,\u201d Vargas explained.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMy father is a hard worker, he never rests. When he would come home late I could see his hands dirty from cement and dust. He came home tired and took off his shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tVargas met Pope Francis at the end of his General Audience in St. Peter\u2019s Square, giving him, in addition to the letters, the gift of a handkerchief.<\/p>\n

\tVargas\u2019 mother sewed into the handkerchief two birds and a nest, representing herself, her husband, and their home.<\/p>\n

\tWhen they met, Pope Francis blessed Vargas, kissed her forehead, and told her, \u201cI will talk to President Obama about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAlicia Flores, director of \u201cHermandad Mexicana Transnacional\u201d and a member of the delegation accompanying Jersey, told CNA, \u201cwe have come to send a message to President Obama via the Pope, asking the Pope that he would advocate for all the families who are going to be deported, as is Jersey\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFlores stressed that Obama has \u201cdeported more than 2 million people\u201d \u2013 more than were deported during the eight years of George W. Bush\u2019s administrations.<\/p>\n

\tObama \u201cmaintains he is deporting criminals,\u201d she said, \u201cwhile in truth he is deporting fathers whose only crime is that of giving a contribution to the country, since they are working, and of being without the proper documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cObama could give an executive order to stop the deportations and he has not. So there is no excuse for him to keep separating families and making these children like Jersey suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFollowing Thursday\u2019s meeting between the Pope and Obama, the Holy See press office stated that \u201cviews were exchanged on some current international themes and it was hoped that, in areas of conflict, there would be respect for humanitarian and international law and a negotiated solution between the parties involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn the context of bilateral relations and cooperation between Church and State, there was a discussion on questions of particular relevance for the Church in (the U.S), such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection, as well as the issue of immigration reform. Finally, the common commitment to the eradication of trafficking of human persons in the world was stated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nLA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/\",\"name\":\"LA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LA’s ‘little ambassador’ to Pope recalls encounter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter","description":"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter","og_description":"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/","name":"LA's 'little ambassador' to Pope recalls encounter","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-01T10:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Apr 1, 2014 \/ 04:00 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Jersey Vargas, the 10 year old daughter of undocumented immigrants who traveled from Los Angeles to the Vatican to ask the Pope’s help for herself and children like her, said she is thrilled ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/04\/l-a-s-ambassador-to-pope-francis-recalls-encounter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LA’s ‘little ambassador’ to Pope recalls encounter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}