Nobel nominee: This year, pope's candidacy has bit of a buzz

Published: 2003-10-03

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When a group of three women and two men huddled in Norway in late September and picked this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, many wondered whether the recipient would be Pope John Paul II. The real question is: Why wasn't the pope chosen long ago? It's hard to imagine a more forceful voice for peace, reconciliation and dialogue around the world over the last 25 years than Pope John Paul. Yet year after year, church officials have scratched their heads as the peace prize was handed out to others. This year, though, the pope's candidacy has a bit of buzz. "He's my favorite," Stein Toennesson, head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo and a veteran Nobel Prize observer, told reporters. One obvious reason is timeliness. The 83-year-old pontiff is celebrating his silver jubilee Oct. 16, six days after the peace prize is announced. And on Oct. 19, the pope will beatify Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1979. Another possible reason is health. The pope's increasing frailty may have some Nobel committee members worried that time is running out to honor him. But according to Toennesson, the main factor working in the pope's favor is his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq.

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