The preacher for the Papal Household, whose first sermon we’ve been featuring here, was in New Orleans earlier this month:

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, visited New Orleans in mid-March to view firsthand the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina and to interview survivors for a television program that airs each Saturday night on Italian state television.

"The programs we are recording here will be seen by millions of people," Father Cantalamessa, a Capuchin Franciscan, told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese. "Hurricane Katrina had a tremendous impact everywhere, but I can say in Italy people were very, very impressed, and they understand the suffering of the city."

The priest, who leads meditations for the pope and his closest advisers on Fridays in Advent and Lent, planned to weave his experiences from his visit into his Lenten talks and into two upcoming 11-minute TV programs, one airing on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and the other on Easter Saturday.