Pope Leo XIV Rejects Invitation to Join Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza

The other day, President Trump rolled out this thing called the “Board of Peace” — basically a new group meant to help sort out conflicts, starting with Gaza’s reconstruction and maybe branching out to other hotspots. He invited a bunch of countries to jump on board, with a catch: shell out $1 billion for a permanent spot. Not everyone was thrilled.

Some nations, like Germany, France, the UK, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Ukraine, passed on it. Others — Israel, Argentina, Russia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, and a few more — said yes and signed up.

Back in January, Trump also extended an invite to Pope Leo XIV, the current head of the Catholic Church (and the first American-born pope, which is pretty historic on its own). The Vatican didn’t rush to answer at first — they said they needed time to think it over.

Now, though, they’ve made it official: no thanks. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who’s basically the Vatican’s foreign minister, explained that the Holy See won’t be joining. He pointed out some parts of the plan left them “perplexed,” and stressed that big global crises like Gaza should stay in the hands of the United Nations, not a setup run by one country.

The Pope himself hasn’t made a big public statement on it, but this lines up with stuff he’s said before about peace, human rights, and making sure world leaders don’t forget about dignity — especially for refugees and people caught in conflicts.

It’s interesting to see the Vatican draw that line, sticking close to the UN as the go-to for international stuff. What do you make of it? Feel free to drop your thoughts below.

(For more on this, check out reports from places like Reuters, CNN, or Vatican News — the story’s been covered pretty widely in the last day or so.)