Holy See declines invitation to join President Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace
February 18, 2026
As expected, the Holy See has declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to join his Board of Peace for Gaza.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, told reporters yesterday that the Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States.”
“There are points that leave us somewhat perplexed,” Cardinal Parolin said. “There are some critical points that would need to find explanations.”
“One concern,” he explained, “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.”
In his exchange with reporters, Cardinal Parolin also praised the Holy See’s relations with the Italian government and expressed pessimism about Ukraine:
On both sides it does not seem to us that there are real advances regarding peace, and it is tragic that after four years, we still find ourselves at this point ... One hopes that these dialogues may produce some progress, but it seems to me that there is not much hope and not many expectations.
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