The Vatican has declined to participate in President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, with its top diplomatic official saying the United Nations should handle international crises instead.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s leading diplomat, announced the decision Tuesday, explaining that the Holy See’s unique nature sets it apart from other states.
“The Holy See will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States,” Parolin said.
He added that the Vatican believes the UN should lead in managing international crises.
“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,” he said.
Trump invited Pope Leo, the first American pope and a critic of some of his policies, to join the board back in January.
Trump created the Board of Peace under his Gaza plan that produced a fragile ceasefire in October. The board was supposed to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump later expanded his mission to tackle global conflicts and named himself as chair. The board holds its first meeting on Thursday in Washington to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction.
Italy and the European Union have announced their representatives will attend Thursday’s meeting as observers since neither has officially joined the board.
Critics Question Colonial Structure
Many rights experts say having Trump oversee a board that supervises a foreign territory’s affairs looks like a colonial structure. The board, which launched last month, has also drawn criticism for not including any Palestinian representatives.
Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation. Some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, but Western allies have kept their distance so far. Experts worry the board could undermine the United Nations.
The Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated since it began in October, with reports of hundreds of Palestinian deaths and four Israeli soldiers killed.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000 people, triggered a hunger crisis and forced Gaza’s entire population to flee their homes.
Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say the campaign amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self defense after Hamas led militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.
Pope Leo has repeatedly spoken out about conditions in Gaza. The pope, who leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican operates an extensive diplomatic service and holds permanent observer status at the United Nations.
