182 Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale

§ 2. Subject to relevant provisions of Palestinian laws, the Church shall have the right to own and operate different kinds of audio-visual and electronic means of social communication.

Article 24

The Catholic Church has the freedom to receive funds for its spiritual, reli- gious, charitable, educational, social and cultural institutions, whether those funds have been donated or acquired, locally or from abroad.

Chapter VII

ECCLESIASTICAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TAXATION

Article 25

§ 1. The Church has the right to acquire, retain and administer prop- erty whether movable or immovable. This right may be exercised by any public ecclesiastical legal person in accordance with Pales- tinian law.

§ 2. The Church may acquire, retain, administer, develop, improve and alter property in any way under Palestinian law.

§ 3. All matters concerning ecclesiastical property, including contracts of whatever kind, shall be governed by Palestinian law subject to the provisions of Article 7.

Article 26

§ 1. The movable and immovable property of the Catholic Church for the purpose of religious rites and freedom of worship such as shrines, churches, chapels, other places of worship, monasteries and con- vents, religious houses, cemeteries and other sacred places and guesthouses owned by the Church shall be immune to confiscation, expropriation or seizure.

§ 2. The State shall not take, inter alia, by way of confiscation, expropri- ation or seizure, ecclesiastical property, except for a public purpose, on a non-discriminatory basis, and in accordance with due process of law ensuring, in particular, proportionality and the exhaustion of all other options to achieve that purpose by the least restrictive means. And for the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing restrictions