Pope Leo XIV has declined an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his proposed “Board of Peace”, a senior Vatican official confirmed on Tuesday. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters that the Pontiff had “critical issues” with the initiative and “will not participate”.
“For us, there are some critical issues that should be resolved,” Cardinal Parolin said. “One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”
The Board of Peace was originally conceived to supervise the Gaza ceasefire and coordinate reconstruction after the conflict between Hamas and Israel, but its scope has since expanded. Mr Trump has invited several world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, drawing criticism from European and Arab states. Former UK prime minister Sir Tony Blair is also expected to sit on the board’s founding executive.
Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, has repeatedly criticised Mr Trump’s policies. In October last year, he questioned whether the president’s hardline immigration policies aligned with Catholic “pro-life” values. “Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” he said.
The White House rejected the Pope’s remarks, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating the administration was enforcing immigration laws “in the most humane way possible”. In November, the Pope backed US bishops who criticised the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, urging humane treatment of migrants.
Despite the controversy, dozens of countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates have committed to joining the board. Mr Trump claims it has already secured over $5bn (£3.67bn) for Gaza reconstruction.
