Pope Leo rejects Trump's invitation to join 'Board of Peace'

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, The Independent reported.

“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 and alternative multilateral forum to the UN, which he has repeatedly criticised as not being fit for purpose.

It was Cardinal Parolin who earlier confirmed that the Pope had been invited to join the board by Mr Trump. He said in January that “the Pope has received the invitation, and we are considering what to do; we are looking into it”.

He said at the time that the invitation to join the board “requires some time to answer” and that the request “will not be to participate financially” because “we are not in a position to do so”.

Mr Trump claims Board of Peace has already committed more than $5bn (£3.67bn) to help rebuild Gaza.