"Christian freedom never identifies with licentiousness or with the will to do what one likes", but "is accomplished in really serving one’s brothers, especially the most needy ones". This was said by the Pope during the catechesis for today’s audience, focussed on episodes from Saint Paul’s life: the Council of Jerusalem and the so-called "incident of Antioch". According to Saint Luke, said Benedict XVI, "the Council of Jerusalem expresses the action of the Spirit, for Paul it is the final recognition of the freedom shared by all those who attended it". Saint Paul’s, according to the Pope, is "the Gospel of the freedom of the law. Circumcision, food, Saturdays are no longer necessary he explained, off the cuff as markings of justice: Christ is our justice, and those who conform to Christ are just, without markings". In the final part of the catechesis, all off the cuff, Benedict XVI explained what the "true freedom" of the Christian consists in. "The lesson that we too have to learn", according to the Pope, is "to let us all be guided by the Spirit, trying to live in freedom, which finds its guide and is materialised in serving". "It is essential he added to increasingly conform ourselves to Christ, so we will really be free and so the true certainty and deep essence of the law will grow in us: the love of God and of our neighbours".
