group of Asian pilgrims at Praza do Obradoiro after completing the Camino de Santiago Photo: Antonio Hernández

The Jewish state of Israel bans Caritas, the charitable arm of the Church (and more than 20 humanitarian organizations), from Gaza

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a formal statement defending Caritas Jerusalem, stressing that it is not a conventional NGO but an ecclesiastical juridical person operating under the authority of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land. Its legal status, the Patriarchate recalls, was explicitly recognized by the State of Israel through bilateral agreements signed with the Holy See in 1993 and 1997

Puerto Rico Redraws the Legal Map of Prenatal Life: every human being is considered a natural person

At the center of the legislative shift is Senate Bill 504, introduced by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz. The measure revises key provisions of the Civil Code to state explicitly that every human being is considered a natural person, a definition that now includes the human being conceived in the mother’s womb at any stage of pregnancy