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Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters on Tuesday that the Pope had a number of concerns about the initiative and that he “will not participate” as a result.
“For us, there are… some critical issues that should be resolved,” he said. “One concern 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.”
Mr Trump has invited a number of world leaders to join the board, originally conceived as a body to supervise the ceasefire in Gaza and coordinate the Strip’s reconstruction following the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Its scope has since been expanded, with Mr Trump saying it would be well-placed to address a range of global disputes. Some see it as an effort by the US president to establish and alternative multilateral forum to the United Nations, which he has repeatedly criticised as not being fit for purpose.
It was Cardinal Parolin who earlier confirmed that the Pope had been invited to join the board by Mr Trump. He said in January that “the Pope has received the invitation, and we are considering what to do; we are looking into it.”
He said at the time that the invitation to join the board “requires some time to answer” and that the request “will not be to participate financially” because “we are not in a position to do so”.
Mr Trump claims the Board of Peace has already committed more than $5bn (£3.67bn) to help rebuild Gaza.
Arab states have also expressed anger at the inclusion of Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the Gaza war that has resulted in the deaths of 72,000 Palestinians.
And there have been concerns about the prominent role of former UK prime minister Tony Blair – one of the first names announced by Mr Trump in connection to the initiative. Mr Blair is expected to sit on the board’s founding executive despite longstanding criticism over Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war.
Despite the controversy, dozens of countries – including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates – have committed to joining the board.
Pope Leo has repeatedly criticised Mr Trump’s policies since being named the first American pontiff. In October last year, he questioned whether the president’s hardline immigration policies were in line with the Catholic Church’s “pro-life” values.
“Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” he told the media in Rome.
At the time, the White House pushed back on the comments. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she “would reject there was inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration”.
“This administration is trying to enforce our nation’s laws in the most humane way possible, and we are upholding the law. We are doing that on behalf of the people of our country who live here.”
In November the Pope backed a message from US bishops criticising the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, including mass deportations and the treatment of migrants. “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice,” he said.
“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least – and there’s been some violence unfortunately – I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said.
“I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”
In January this year, Pope Leo delivered a powerful speech in which he condemned the growing global “zeal for war”. While he did not call out Mr Trump by name, his address came after the US military operation to forcibly remove Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and bring him to American soil.
“A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force,” Leo told diplomats from 184 countries. “War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading.”
