The Vatican has announced its refusal to join the “Peace Council” on Gaza, established by U.S. President Donald Trump. It expressed concerns that the United Nations should be the body responsible for handling such crises. The Vatican declined to participate in the council due to its “special nature,” as did the United Kingdom, France, and Norway. Trump chairs the council, but his comments and the expansion of its powers have raised concerns among some leaders. The council’s first meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington on Thursday.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, told reporters that they would not accept the invitation, saying they felt “confused” by some aspects of the plan and that “critical issues” still needed to be resolved.
The cardinal added that one of the Vatican’s concerns “is that, at the international level, the United Nations should be the primary body managing these crises. This is one of the points we insisted on.”
The council was originally intended to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, with Trump chairing it indefinitely. However, its purpose has since expanded to become a global peacekeeping body.
Parolin’s comments came after he attended an event with the Italian government marking the anniversary of the Lateran Treaties, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state nearly a century ago.
While Italy and the European Union have stated they plan to attend the council as observers, the cardinal said the Vatican would not “participate in the Peace Council because of its special nature, which is clearly not the nature of other states.”
The Vatican is not the only state to reject the invitations; the United Kingdom, France, and Norway have also not signed on. Diplomats, officials, and world leaders have expressed concerns about the expansion of the council’s powers, Trump’s indefinite leadership, and the potential harm to the work of the United Nations.
Pope Leo XIV, the first pope born in the United States, has made peacemaking a central theme of his papacy. In an important diplomatic address last month, he warned that “war has returned to the forefront.”
Leo stressed that the United Nations “must play a central role” in addressing conflicts while also emphasizing the importance of humanitarian law.
The pope has criticized Trump’s immigration policies, and his insistence on international humanitarian law contrasts with a president who told The New York Times in January that he feels bound only by “his own morals” while disregarding international law and the post–World War II order.
The council’s first meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington tomorrow, Thursday.