The Religion News Service reported that Francis is currently the 5-2 favourite with British bookmaker William Hill to win the award, which will be announced by the Nobel Institute in Norway on October 10.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power also considers him a leading contender.

The Pontiff's odds have fallen from 11-4 in a sign of his worldwide popularity.

"When the odds get shorter, that's when you sit up and pay attention," said Jon Ivan-Duke, spokesman for William Hill. "Maybe there's some divine inspiration at work."

Nevertheless, Francis is facing stiff competition from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

"Snowden has created as many fans as critics and would be a rather controversial choice," said Mr Ivan-Duke.

But the Pope is also facing a late challenge from Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani who survived a near-fatal shooting by the Taliban on her way to school in 2012.

When the brutal attack provoked an international outcry, Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against her attackers, but the Taliban reaffirmed its intent to kill Yousafzai as she recovered in the United Kingdom.

Now a human rights activist, Yousafzai has seen her odds halved from 20-1 to 10-1 but the Pope is still ahead of her.

"The betting suggests Pope Francis is in pole position to win the Nobel Peace Prize — he's the hot ticket," said Ivan-Duke.

"However, there's a late gamble on last year's favorite, Yousafzai, and she could be a real challenger to the Holy Father."

Since he was elected in March 2013, Francis has called for peace in areas of conflict including Iraq, Syria and Ukraine.

The 77-year-old was also outspoken on his visit to the Middle East this year calling for an end to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians and praying beside the controversial concrete wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem.

In June, he hosted a high-level prayer summit between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and pressed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back attacks during this summer's bloody conflict in Gaza.

Source

• Religion News Service
• Image: Haaretz

Yousafzai first attracted the group's ire for her insistence on the right of girls to be educated. At the age of 11, she gained international recognition for her BBC blog, in which she documented Taliban atrocities as they burned girls' schools to the ground.

Following Yousafzai's shooting earlier this month, the Taliban released a statement claiming, 'We did not attack her for raising her voice for education. We targeted her for opposing mujahideen (holy warriors) and their war.'

And so, the Taliban continues to paint Islam as an inherently violent religion.

Muslims are required to model their lives on that of the prophet Mohammed. Consequently, it is easy to assume the roots of radical Islam can be traced back to the prophet himself, hence the numerous Western depictions of Mohammed as an intolerant, murderous tyrant. Such depictions have no basis in history.

Mohammed was trying not just to introduce a new faith, but to transform Arabian society. He blamed much of Arabia's ills on the concept of jahaliyyah. Referred to as the 'Time of Ignorance' by Muslims to denote pre-Islamic times, jahaliyyah, according to historian Karen Armstrong, is better translated as 'irascibility', an 'acute sensitivity to honour and prestige; arrogance, excess, and ... a chronic tendency to violence and retaliation'.

In establishing an inclusive Muslim community (ummah), Mohammed sought to overcome the tribal ethos that had led to customs such as lethal retaliation for perceived transgressions, honour crimes and blood feuds, and whose patriarchal nature bred violence against women including wife beating, forced marriages and female infanticide, all of which Mohammed condemned.

Indeed women had such low standing it is not surprising that, after hearing Mohammed declare women's rights to inherit property and determine who and when they marry, women were among his earliest converts. For this, Mohammed was ridiculed for mixing with the 'weak'. Continue reading

Image: The Guardian