President Donald Trump invited Pope Leo XIV to join the Board of Peace for Gaza, but the first American leader of the Catholic Church is still evaluating whether to accept the position, according to reports.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State for Vatican City, told reporters Wednesday that Trump offered Leo a position on the board, an international organization the president established in January to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza and expand activities to de-escalate conflicts across the world, multiple outlets reported. Parolin said that the Vatican is still considering “what to do” about the invitation, and he believes “it will be something that requires a bit of time for consideration before giving a response.”
The Roman Pontiff, who leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely participates in international boards, according to the Independent.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
A senior White House official stated 35 countries have accepted the invitation to join Trump’s board, according to Reuters. The members include leaders of U.S. allies in the Middle East, such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt, some NATO members, such as Hungary and Turkey, and even Belarus, a Russian ally that has had a tumultuous relationship with the United States, according to the outlet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were also invited, but neither of the adversarial leaders has said whether they intend to join the organization.
The Chicago-born Leo has been a vocal critic of some of the Trump administration’s immigration and foreign policies, including the capture and removal of Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military, which Pope Leo XIV described as “diplomacy replaced by force.”
The pope supported Catholic bishops who condemned the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown, stating in November 2025, “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.”
Parolin was widely reported as one of the frontrunners to replace the late Pope Francis in May 2025 before a conclave surprisingly elected Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, who took the papal name Leo XIV.
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