Pontiff turned migrant's hurt and pain into happiness and hope

Ms Diane Karla Abano, a Filipino migrant living in Rome, has vivid memories of the day that Pope Francis touched her heart and made her feel at home, kissing her two young daughters during an audience in St Peter's Square in May 2018.

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Ms Diane Karla Abano, a Filipino migrant living in Rome, has vivid memories of the day that Pope Francis touched her heart and made her feel at home, kissing her two young daughters during an audience in St Peter's Square in May 2018.

"The moment that I reached out to the Pope and saw his smile, I don't know, all the hurt, all the pain that I felt, it changed into happiness and hope," Ms Abano said, tears welling in her eyes as she showed photos of the event.

"In the eyes of Pope Francis, we are not migrants; we're all the same people", not Filipino or Indian or Asian, said Ms Abano.

She was back in St Peter's Square this week, joining tens of thousands of other mourners, to pay her last respects to a man whose brief blessing proved transformative.

Pope Francis, himself the son of Italian immigrants in Argentina, placed the plight of migrants and refugees at the heart of his moral agenda during his 12-year papacy, personally intervening to help asylum seekers and pushing governments to do much more to help.

He repeatedly spoke out for the poor and marginalised, and criticised countries that shunned migrants.