Deforestation, pollution, overfishing and the illegal wildlife trade, together with climate change, "are pushing species populations to the edge.”

This is the third year that the pope has been considered a strong contender for the prize, though he remains a long shot.

Like Pope Francis, Oliver’s poetry invites readers to let the distractions of our modern, constant motion, hyper-stimulated world fall away from time to time, to enter into that quiet place of contemplation and gratitude that waits in the world all around us.

Pope Francis’ revolutionary new encyclical calls for a “broad cultural revolution” to confront the environmental crisis. “Laudato Si” is also quite lengthy.

These same spiritual tools can be used to cultivate ecological sensitivity and a heightened awareness of God’s immanence in the natural world.