Pope Leo XIV has been invited to join President Donald Trump’s "Board of Peace," according to a fresh Wednesday statement from the Vatican’s secretary of state. "We’ve also received this invitation and the pope received it and we are looking at what to do. We are researching and I believe it’s a question that demands a little time to be considered in order to give a response," the Vatican’s number two, Pietro Parolin, told journalists at an event in Rome.
So neither a yes or no has yet been given in response. The Vatican had throughout the 2-year long Gaza war constantly spotlighted the issue and called for immediate peace. But the Vatican could actually be "considering" the invitation.
Leo has also been outspoken on the protection of Palestinian Christians, also after his predecessor Francis was known to phone Gaza City's lone Catholic Church each night in solidarity, when the strip was under constant bombardment from Israeli forces.
As the first American pope, he carried on Francis' theme of standing up for the downtrodden, and his very first Christmas sermon stated that God had "pitched his fragile tent" among the people of the world. "How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?" he posed.
However, Leo has generally been less 'political' and more diplomatic than his predecessor.
But this doesn't mean his American cardinals have been quiet on world events. According to The Washington Post this week:
Echoing concerns of Pope Leo XIV over a new era of unilateralism and warfare, the three highest-ranking U.S. Catholic archbishops on Monday said “the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world” has been thrown into question by a resurgence in the use or threat of military force, including in Venezuela and Greenland.
The archbishops, Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of D.C. and Joseph Tobin of Newark, in a statement released Monday, amplified comments by Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, who earlier this month lamented the demise of multilateralism.
“In 2026 the United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War,” the archbishops wrote. “The events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace.”
There are reports that some US Roman Catholic bishops have even said Catholic servicemembers could conscientiously object to carrying out orders to invade or occupy Greenland.
As for the Gaza board, invitations have been sent to a broad group of countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including US allies and key regional players. Already, countries and leaders as different and geographically distant as Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Vietnamese Communist Party chief To Lam have accepted their invitations. Putin has also been invited.
It is shaping up to be a 'mini UN' of sorts, as the peace board plan calls for an international council to manage reconstruction financing, security coordination, and political cooperation in Gaza - all while working in cooperation with a Palestinian technocratic administration.
Yet there are other peculiar aspects. For example Bloomberg recently reported that the Trump administration is asking nations interested in holding a permanent seat on a proposed Gaza Strip "Board of Peace" to pledge at least $1 billion in funding. Otherwise they will just hold a three-year seat, according to some initial details. Would the Vatican contemplate this?
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