WASHINGTON ¨C The Vatican will not participate in U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s ?¡°Board of Peace¡± initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican¡¯s top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.

Pope Leo, the first U.S. pope and a critic of some of Trump¡¯s ?policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Under Trump¡¯s plan ?that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the ?board was meant to supervise the Gaza Strip¡¯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.

Italy and the ?European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.

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.

¡°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.¡±

Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory¡¯s affairs resembled a colonial structure. The board launched last month has also faced criticism for not including a ?Palestinian.

Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump¡¯s invitation, with experts concerned that the board could undermine the U.N. Some of Washington¡¯s Middle Eastern allies have joined but its Western allies have stayed away so far.

The Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated ?with ?hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since ?it began in October.

Israel¡¯s assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger ?crisis and internally displaced the territory¡¯s entire population.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and a U.N. inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages ?in a late 2023 attack.

Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world¡¯s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the United Nations.