New York (AsiaNews) – It aroused controversy and threatened to create a diplomatic crisis. But then, the "lectio magistralis" delivered by Benedict XVI on 12 September in Regensburg was largely badly and selectively quoted, with reference made only to certain extracts. The reaction was such that it prompted the Pope to speak about "misunderstanding" of his words and to put notes and clarifications in the final text to allow for a correct understanding of it.

But his address should not just be carefully read in its entirety, it should be put in the context of other reflections made during his trip to Bavaria from 9 to 14 September this year.

Such an undertaking has been made easier thanks to a volume published by Cantagalli Editions and the Vatican Publishing House [Libreria editrice vaticana], which gathered and classifies, not chronologically, but by theme, everything that Pope Ratzinger said in those days. 

Entitled "He who believes is never alone", this volume – an English edition is in the making – will be the focus of a meeting to be held on 20 November. This encounter will take place at the most international of venues, the United Nations, in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium, almost as if to invite all those people in the world who commented about the address of Benedict XVI to draw near to the entirety of his words.

Throughout the meeting, another work by the same author will be presented, written when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger: "Christians and a crisis of cultures" (The name of the Italian edition is "Benedict's Europe in a crisis of cultures").

The meeting will be introduced by Mgr Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, and will feature speakers like George Weigel, lecturer from the Ethics and Public Policy Center of Washingon, and Senator Marcello Pera. The meeting's moderator will be Marco Bardazzi, correspondent of the ANSA news agency in the US.