The Vatican will not participate in US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, says the Holy See’s secretary of state.
The board, of which Trump is the chairman, was initially designed to oversee the Gaza truce and the territory’s reconstruction after the war between Hamas and Israel.
But its purpose has since expanded into resolving all sorts of international conflicts, triggering fears that the US president wants to create a rival to the United Nations. The board’s first meeting is set for Thursday.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, says that the UN manages the world’s top crises.
“For us, there are… some critical issues that should be resolved, let’s say,” he says.
“That is, at the international level, it is above all the UN that manages these crisis situations,” he says. “This is one of the, one of the points on which we have insisted.”
Since Trump launched his Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, at least 19 countries have signed its founding charter. Countries have been asked to pay $1 billion for permanent membership.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026
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