Mexican victims of ABC nursery fire meet the Pope

Héctor and César are Mexican children. Six years ago they were fighting to stay alive after the fatal fire in the ABC nursery of Hermosillo, Sonora, and today they received the blessing of Pope Francis.

The kids and their families met Francis during an encounter with thousands of immigrants in the Independence National Historical, where the independence of the United States was proclaimed on July 4, 1776.

To that emblematic place six people arrived, four mothers and two children, just to see the Pope arriving in his Popemobile.

Two of the women lost their children during the fire on June 5, 2009.

"It changed the lives of my husband and me. We have had a very intense fight for six years to have the authorities listen to us," expressed Julia Escalante, mother of Fátima Sofía, a two-year-old girl who was one of the 49 children killed in the fire.

She pointed out that nobody has ever being made responsible of the fire, and that the nursery was next to a warehouse property of the Government of Sonora, and all of the access to it were closed, keeping the children trapped.

"We are here with the Pope by the grace of God. We know that he is a great social fighter and we want him to know that down there is Hermosillo, that there was a nursery, children died in the worst conditions, and our children burned to death and no one was able to help," she said.

Next to Escalante was Adriana Guadalupe Villegas Galvez, who caressed the head of her son Héctor. He is one of the surviving children and so far has been subjected to 19 surgeries, and many more will be done in the future.

"What greater blessing to be here, I am fortunate. I never lost the faith, I was born in a family of great faith .... My son gives me the strength to continue," he said.