"After a cycle of six sessions dedicated to the three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity, we chose the words which Paul said to the Galats (when he said that Christians are asked to be free), because we thought it was a subject meeting a double need: it had a strong spiritual meaning, and it was closely linked with the problems of history and current affairs". In that way, Meo Gnocchi, president of SAE (Secretariat for Ecumenical Activities – Italy), explained SIR the choice of the subject "Called to Freedom. Faith, Churches, History" for the 44th session of ecumenical training, which is taking place in Chianciano Terme (Siena) from July 29th to August 4th. "The theme of freedom in ecumenical vein is interesting", pointed out the president of SAE, who also added: "Beyond the borders of ecumenism, the words of St. Paul, suggesting us the subject of the session, put Christian freedom in dialectic relation with the law, which includes the comparison with Hebraism on very radical terms". In the ecumenical field, "as for freedom, the Christians of several confessions argued with each other, and divided themselves in the past, and today they have still got differences" implying "different options in the social field". According to Gnocchi, "however, as for the subject of human rights as unavoidable condition so that freedom may be concrete, there is a basic agreement among the different confessions".
