VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV is considering an offer from Donald Trump to join the U.S. president’s new Board of Peace, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said.
“Trump is asking various countries to participate, I think I read that Italy is also reflecting on whether or not to join,” the Vatican secretary of state said. “We have received this invitation too.”
“The pope has received the invitation and we are assessing what to do. We are examining it,” Parolin said.
President Donald Trump has asked Pope Leo XIV to sit on his board of peace. The Vatican says that the Pope is considering the offer. https://t.co/n5sq3A2dcH
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) January 21, 2026
More than 20 countries, including Hungary and Argentina, have joined the board, which is intended to help settle conflicts around the world.
The Board of Peace is seen as an attempted competitor to the United Nations and is therefore prompting outrage among liberals and globalists.
In recent decades, the U.N. has become one of the most powerful global adversaries of Christian morals, with its promotion of unrestricted abortion and contraception, depopulation efforts, homosexuality, transgenderism – including “gender transitions” for children, obscene “sexual education,” and other anti-life and anti-family practices and ideologies. The international body has repeatedly pressured countries to abandon pro-life and pro-family policies.
The U.N. has also strongly pushed radical climate policies and COVID mandates and worked to undermine marriage, parental rights – including in education and medical decisions, freedom of speech, and religious liberty.
Conservatives have long criticized the U.N. for threatening countries’ sovereignty and failing to fulfill its stated mission of advancing global peace.
Trump has suggested that the Board of Peace may replace the United Nations, saying on Tuesday, “The U.N. just hasn’t been very helpful.”
“I’m a big fan of the U.N., but it has never lived up to its potential,” he added.
Trump has invited dozens of world leaders to join the new board. Along with Hungary and Argentina, other countries that have accepted so far include Vietnam, Israel, Belarus, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, and several other Muslim-majority countries.
Some liberal European nations, such as France, Norway, and Sweden, have declined. Russia and China have also not said whether they intend to join.
Member countries will have three-year terms and can secure permanent seats for a $1 billion contribution.
Trump will serve indefinitely as the chairman of the Board of Peace, with power to remove members, appoint executive board members, and reject decisions.
He announced plans for the board last fall as part of his peace proposal for Gaza but has said that the initiative will focus on other regions as well.
Trump is planning a signing ceremony for the board in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday during the World Economic Forum.