Vatican won't participate in Trump's 'Board of Peace': top diplomat
"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," Vatican's top diplomatic official says.
The Vatican will not participate in US President Donald Trump's “Board of Peace" initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.
The Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States," Parolin said on Tuesday.
"One concern," he said, "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."
Pope Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump's policies, was invited to join the board in January.
Under Trump's Gaza plan, which led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza's temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts. The board will hold its first meeting in Washington on Thursday to discuss Gaza's reconstruction.
The Board of Peace is composed of staunch US allies in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and Latin America. Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers, as they have not joined the board.
Mexico declines full membership
Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country will not participate as a full member in the US-led group overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan due to the lack of Palestinian representation on the Board of Peace.
“Given that we recognise Palestine as a state, it’s important that both states, Israel and Palestine, participate. It isn’t set up that way,” she said at a press conference.
Sheinbaum said her country would send Mexico’s ambassador to the UN as an observer.
“They invited us to attend as observers; if we were not going to participate, then to attend as observers. And together with the foreign minister, we decided that our ambassador to the United Nations would attend as an observer,” she added.
Sheinbaum has expressed her support for Palestine, describing Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza and the Palestinian people as genocide and calling for a two-state solution.