If you think things slow down in the summer, don’t tell that to those of us here at DeSales Media. For months now, we’ve been preparing for the visit of Pope Francis, who will be in our city from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26. Most of His New York activities will take place on Friday, the 25th, as the Holy Father visits Ground Zero, speaks at the United Nations, celebrates Mass at Madison Square Garden and perhaps takes a Popemobile ride through Central Park.

At NET-TV, plans have been underway for some time for our live coverage of the entire papal trip to Cuba and the United States. NET will be on the air from the moment the pope touches down in Cuba on Saturday, Sept. 19, to his departure from Philadelphia on Sept. 27.

Our production department has been interviewing special guests – Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Cardinal Timothy Dolan among them – all summer and we will have those packages for you throughout our coverage. In addition, there will be special guests in the studio with our anchor Liz Faublas.

Our IT department has purchased new technology that will allow us to bring you live reports from the different cities that the pope is visiting. Our engineering folks feverishly have been putting together our studio so that these live broadcasts will go out without a hitch.

Our production department has been hard at work bringing to fruition a major endeavor near Madison Square Garden. It’s the 225-foot high poster welcoming Pope Francis to New York – brought to you by NET-TV. We’re hoping that Pope Francis will get a glimpse of it when he’s in town. Honestly, it’s hard to miss.

You can read about the project in our coverage that starts on Page 1 this week. Already it’s causing quite a stir among passersby and tourists who are stopping to take photos for their Facebook and Instagram accounts. It’s estimated that 700,000 people a week will actually lift their eyes upon that billboard.

Our social media crew also has set up www.popeinusa.com and the hashtags #PopeInUSA and #PapaEnUSA, to direct you to all the information about the papal trip.

Our phones here have been ringing with request for tickets to see the pope. Action alert – we do not have any tickets. Distribution for all events are under the auspices of the Archdiocese of New York, which has not yet announced how it will distribute them.

As a matter of fact, our reporters here at The Tablet and NET-TV are only now learning where and how they will be allowed to cover the papal trip. Thousands of requests have been made for press credentials that are being handled by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB). All members of the media first have to be vetted by the U.S. Secret Service who will then authorize the USCCB to credential them.

Recently, we also have coordinated an agreement with Relevant Radio that is heard right here in New York City. The Catholic radio station will broadcast our live TV coverage. In return, Relevant Radio’s executive director Father Rocky Hoffman will make appearances on our station during the coverage.

So, there’s great excitement here in our offices. The planning committee is overseeing all the projects as we get closer to what promises to be a major social event in our city. Make a note to stay with NET-TV for coverage from those who are closest to the papal scene.