Pope Leo XIV has turned down Donald Trump’s invitation to join his so-called “Board of Peace”, a senior Vatican official said.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters on Tuesday that the Pope had a number of concerns about the initiative and that he “will not participate” as a result.
“For us, there are… some critical issues that should be resolved,” he 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.”
Mr Trump has invited a number of world leaders to join the board, originally conceived as a body to supervise the ceasefire in Gaza and coordinate the Strip’s reconstruction following the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Its scope has since been expanded, with Mr Trump saying it would be well-placed to address a range of global disputes. Some see it as an effort by the US president to establish an alternative multilateral forum to the United Nations, which he has repeatedly criticised as not being fit for purpose.
Pope Leo XIV was invited by Mr Trump to join the Board of Peace in January.
