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Catholic leader might be the next winner of 2017 Nobel peace prize

According to a bookmaker, the Pontiff is the favourite candidate for this year’s award.

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Not only is he is on the list but betting firm, William Hill, predicts that the Catholic leader might win, Independent reports.

Apparently, Pope Francis is the favourite candidate for this year’s award. If he wins, he will be the first pontiff to have this prize.

Reportedly, he was nominated by one Norwegian politician that said he chose him because he is “one of the rare ones to stand up to Donald Trump.”

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Pope Francis was also nominated for addressing refugees, social justice, climate change and basically being a liberalising force for the Catholic Church.

Other nominees for the same award include President Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.

Bookmakers predict that the North Korean leader, United States and Russian President all have a 100–1 chance of winning this prize. While Corbyn and Sanders are both at 50–1.

The Pope might be the favourite but he is not the only one in the favourite category.

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Mohammad Javad Zarif, Federica Mogherini, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and White Helmets.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the American Civil Liberties Union,  International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden are also in the favourite category.

Recipients of the award are people or group who “have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

This year’s winner will be announced in Oslo today, October 6, 2017.

Update:

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The winner of the 2017 Noble peace prize has just been announced. Sadly, it is not Pope Francis.

Despite earlier predictions that the Pontiff would win, the award given to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), according to CNN.

The group, a body of NGOs in 100 countries, were honored for protesting against the tensions between North Korea and the US.

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee,  ICAN received the award for its "work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons."

Nobel committee president Berit Reiss-Andersen also praised the work of ICAN. She said,"Some states are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea.

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"Nuclear weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and all life on earth. Through binding international agreements, the international community has previously adopted prohibitions against land mines, cluster munitions and biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive, but have not yet been made the object of a similar international legal prohibition."

Beatrice Fihn, the organization's chief executive, was quite surprised. Speaking with reporters, she said she thought the phone call from the Nobel Committee was "a prank."

In her words, "I think it's hugely important that we raise awareness of this issue and this treaty, the treaty on prohibition of nuclear weapons, has declared that kind of behavior illegal.

"The prize sends a very strong signal that this is unacceptable, you have to stop and you have to join majority of states in the world that have concluded that this is unacceptable and illegal."

ICAN also released a statement saying that it was a "great honor."

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It read, "The belief of some governments that nuclear weapons are a legitimate and essential source of security is not only misguided, but also dangerous, for it incites proliferation and undermines disarmament."

"All nations should reject these weapons completely -- before they are ever used again. This is a time of great global tension, when fiery rhetoric could all too easily lead us, inexorably, to unspeakable horror.

"The specter of nuclear conflict looms large once more. If ever there were a moment for nations to declare their unequivocal opposition to nuclear weapons, that moment is now."

ICAN is now the 27th organization to win the Nobel peace prize.

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