Family Of Murdered Temple Student Vying For Meeting With Pope Francis
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The family of a Temple student murdered outside of a nightclub has spent months writing the Vatican with the hope of getting an audience with the Holy Father, and they are still praying for a miracle.
"We've exhausted every channel, we've really tried," says Aleida Garcia.
She and Wilfredo Rojas say they've spent months writing to the Vatican and submitting online petitions to get an audience with the pope on behalf of victim families. Their son Alejandro Rojas Garcia was murdered in January and they're hoping the Holy Father will lend comfort to their family and others. They say the Vatican responded, directing them to local organizers. So last week, they say they submitted a written proposal to the WMOF asking to be included in Pope Francis' visit with inmates at Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility later this month.
"The Holy Father can have mercy and compassion all at the same time," says Rojas, "murder affects families on both sides."
Ironically, Rojas worked with inmates at Philadelphia Prisons for 25 years and says he retired from a job at Curran Fromhold in 2012. He believes the connection is more than coincidence.
"I believe in miracles," he says.
Garcia and Rojas say a meeting with the Pontiff could send a message to the world to stop the killing.
"If the pope speaks, people listen," says Garcia.
A spokesperson for the WMOF issued the following statement via email: "We can confirm receipt of the request from the Garcia-Rojas family regarding attendance at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. That said, the World Meeting of Families has received hundreds of similar requests and certainly all are equally moving and special. CFCF has very limited space and the current plan is to have the vast majority of those in attendance reflect the incarcerated population there."
