The Vatican won’t join President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Wednesday that the Holy See had concerns about the board’s structure.
“One concern is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations,” Parolin told the Holy See’s official news outlet, Vatican News. “This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”
The United Nations, which has 193 member nations, was founded in 1945.
Trump would chair the board, which is structured to include an international group of governmental representatives from invited countries. The U.S. president invited 60 nations to join the Board of Peace last month at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Russia, Hungary, Israel, and Argentina joined the board. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, and Ukraine declined invitations.
A senior administration official declined to discuss diplomatic conversations.
“The Pope and Vatican are welcome to join the many other nations who are committed to the Board of Peace and its guiding principles promoting stability and securing enduring peace,” the official said.
On Sunday, Trump said his “Board of Peace has unlimited potential.” On Thursday, Trump’s Board of Peace will hold its first meeting.
“We will announce that Member States have pledged more than $5 BILLION DOLLARS toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts, and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to Full and Immediate Demilitarization. The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History, and it is my honor to serve as its Chairman.”
Pope Leo XIV has been critical of Trump’s immigration policies.
