The first-ever American Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, has announced that the Vatican will not be represented at Donald Trump’s inaugural meeting of his “Board of Peace” in Washington later today, expressing concern about some points of the Board’s plan, and stating that there are critical issues to be resolved. [Christopher Lamb, CNN, February 18, 2026.]

The Vatican has joined Britain, France, Norway, Greece, New Zealand, and others in declining Trump’s invitation. (Italy and the European Union have said they plan to attend as observers only — an excellent idea, so that the rest of us will know what really took place.)

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, told reporters that one of the Vatican’s concerns “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.” He added that the Vatican would not “participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States.” [Id.]

Speaking for the White House, Karoline Leavitt said:

“I don’t think that peace should be partisan or political or controversial. And of course, the administration wants all those who were invited to join the board of peace to join. This is a legitimate organization where there are tens of member countries from around the world, and we think that’s an unfortunate decision.” [Id.]

Well, what did they — Trump and his White House minions — expect? They started out trumpeting (pun intended) their “legitimate organization” as a coalition to deal with the situation in Gaza. Suddenly, it was being reinvented as a much larger peacemaking group tasked with settling conflicts throughout the world — ignoring the existence of something called the United Nations. Its chairman would be Donald Trump, who would have veto power and the mandate to choose his own eventual successor. And the price of permanent membership would be a billion dollars (or more, from those seeking favor), to be deposited into a fund managed by . . .

Come, now . . . do you really have to ask?

Not surprisingly, most of the first countries to sign up were autocracies, because they recognized that this “Board of Peace” had nothing whatsoever to do with peace, and everything to do with power and control.

And the Pope also recognizes it for what it is: another desperate grab at immortality by a malignant narcissist who cannot face the fact that his time — politically, if not physically — is rapidly dwindling.

It will be interesting to see what happens at today’s meeting. But in the meantime, a huge thank you to Pope Leo XIV — a good and wise man who does not allow his nationality to interfere with his rationality.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/19/26