WASHINGTON — Pope Leo XIV is peacing out of President Trump’s offer.
The Holy See turned down Trump’s invitation to join his Board of Peace for the beleaguered Gaza Strip due to fears that the panel would undermine the role of the United Nations.
“There are points that leave us somewhat perplexed,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s Secretary of State, told reporters, per the Vatican.
“One concern,” the Vatican’s top diplomat explained, “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.”
A senior Trump administration official told The Post that, “The Pope and Vatican are welcome to join the many other nations who are committed to the Board of Peace.”
“We’re not going to get into the details of diplomatic conversations,” the official noted.
Last fall, Trump first unveiled his plans to create the Board of Peace to oversee the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
It was then formally established last month, with a flurry of invites being doled out to countries all over the world, controversially including Russia and countries that have vexed Israel like Turkey.
Trump, who was gifted María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize last month by the Venezuelan opposition leader herself, is the chairman of the Board of Peace.
As chair, he has sweeping powers, including the sole power to issue vetoes and invite countries onto the panel.
Additionally, there appears to be no limit on his tenure, meaning it could extend beyond his presidency.
Recently, the president revealed that his vaunted Board of Peace will convene in DC on Thursday to tout $5 billion in commitments from its members towards rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Its administrative center is in the recently renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
The panel has also been pushing Hamas to disarm, something the terror group has long refused to do.
“It’s going to go to making Gaza happen,” Trump told The Post Tuesday about the agenda for the Board of Peace’s upcoming meeting at the White House.
Multiple US allies, such as France, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and more, have either turned down invites to join the board or raised deep skepticism about it.
