Pope Leo XIV is among the world leaders who have been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s Peace Committee, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, said.
Parolin said the pope is considering the invitation. The goal of the Committee was initially to end the war in Gaza. However, Trump said that the Committee will have much broader powers and will resolve conflicts on a global level.
Certain countries, such as Israel and Egypt, have accepted the invitation, many have expressed caution, and diplomats warn that the idea could harm the work of the United Nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s “Committee for Peace,” Netanyahu’s office said.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he has accepted the invitation of US President Donald Trump and will join as a member of the Peace Committee, which will consist of world leaders,” the office said.
The committee was originally conceived to oversee the reconstruction of post-war Gaza, but its charter, seen by AFP, does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory, and members must pay up to $1 billion for a permanent seat.
The majority of European Union members rejected US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Gaza Peace Committee, writes the “Financial Times” newspaper, citing sources familiar with the situation.
According to the newspaper, many in Europe fear that the goal of the proposed initiative is to sideline the UN as a forum for solving global conflicts, and the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to the Committee also causes concern.
According to the sources of the “Bloomberg” agency, about 60 countries, including several European ones, have been invited to join the committee, and Trump wants the final charter and mandate of the committee to be signed tomorrow in Davos.
