Pope Francis reaches out to give a blessing to Sophie Cruz, 5, of Los Angeles during a parade Wednesday in Washington, D.C. She also delivered a bright yellow T-shirt and a letter expressing wishes that her mother and father and millions of others who are in the U.S. illegally are allowed to remain in the country.

WASHINGTON — The massive security apparatus protecting Pope Francis on his trip to the United States will be tested further today, a day after a 5-year-old California girl made her way through a security barrier and onto his parade route.

Sophie Cruz of Los Angeles initially shied away as a pair of security officials approached her before she was encouraged to approach the vehicle by Francis himself. Then she was quickly whisked to Francis’ modified, open-air Jeep popemobile, where the pope did what this pope so often does: He gave her a hug and kiss.

Such an encounter is routine for Francis, well known for freely wading into crowds, kissing and blessing hoisted children and eagerly accepting gifts from well-wishing strangers. But during his trip to the United States, Francis is surrounded by a phalanx of security that include suit-clad Vatican security officers and Secret Service agents, uniformed federal agents and local police keeping most onlookers at a distance.

Those guardians will all be accompanying Francis when he comes to Capitol Hill today.

It’s a far cry from the freewheeling motorcade routes of many of Francis’ past pilgrimages, where he would hop on and off his popemobile to kiss babies and catch soccer jerseys thrown his way from ordinary folks who had done no planning other than to show up early to get a good spot.

For the first time, tickets were required for most of Francis’ popemobile processions, and those lucky enough to get one through lotteries or their parishes still had to pass through metal detectors to get into position.

Francis’ first parade in Washington was open to the general public and people lined up before dawn Wednesday to pass through security gates and stake out a spot along the route.

In New York, security screening will be just part of “layers and layers and layers of protection” the pope will receive during his visit, including a deployment of 6,000 extra police officers and specialized counterterrorism units, said John Miller, the NYPD’s top security official.

Police will also be “looking for, in the Boston Marathon example, where is the potential terrorist threat, not to the protectee, but to the crowd. And we have layers behind that,” Miller said.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said despite the tight security, Francis “intends to move around as he usually does.”

Nearly all the pope’s movements have been scripted well in advance and Secret Service agents are prepared for his inevitable spontaneous decisions to get closer to crowds along parade routes or outside other events in Washington, New York and Philadelphia, said Arnette Heintze, a retired senior Secret Service agent who worked on protection details for Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.