Parents of students to also meet pope

NEW YORK - Pedro Hernandez is one of six students of Our Lady Queen of Angels School in Harlem who will get to meet Pope Francis. What he told us he wants to say to the Holy Father was touching too many: to pray for his mom so that she can afford to pay for rent on their apartment. A day later, we caught up with his mother outside the school. Lorenza Sanchez was unaware of what her 8-year-old son told us.

She said she is proud that her son thinks about her and that it is beautiful that he worries about her. But she also said that no one needs to worry. The single mom of four left Mexico 14 years ago. She left poverty and came looking for a better life. She ended up in Manhattan and 10 years later moved to the Bronx. She has many jobs in order to support her family. She sells food, cleans homes, and sometimes collects cans to make ends meet. She says god always provides in one way or another.

She is a woman of faith. She said that god is always with her. When she was a little girl, Pope John Paul II was in Mexico. She wanted to see him but didn't get a chance. When she found out Pope Francis was coming to New York and chose to visit her children's school she was overjoyed. She said she wanted to come to the school to see him but was told she wouldn't be allowed due to security measures. But she held on to her faith.

Lorenza prays at St. Cecilia's Church. She said asked god to grant for the wish to meet Pope Francis. She said her prayers were answered because she got a call that she will be one of about a dozen parents that will inside the classroom at Our Lady Queen of Angels next Friday.