Sri Lanka, April 25 -- As the world's 1.4 billion Catholics mourn and tens of thousands of people queue to say their last goodbyes to Pope Francis at St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, orphaned are the many causes that the pontiff championed throughout his papal mission.

He was the father figure of the poor and the marginalised. He emphasised the need to address global poverty and inequality in the distribution of global wealth.

As the true son of Mother Earth, he wept over the harm greedy capitalism was inflicting on her. In his encyclical Laudato Si', titled after the famous Praise be to God poem penned by Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis shook the conscience of humanity, saying it was the moral obligation of every citizen of ...