'It's an exciting time': Oklahoma filmmaker in Vatican City

As the Catholic Church and the world prepare for a new pope, an Oklahoma filmmaker is in Vatican City documenting the conclave.

Manny Marquez works for Word On Fire Catholic Ministries, a nonprofit global media apostolate dedicated to highlighting the Catholic faith.

We spoke to him about his experience witnessing history.

How did you end up in this role?

“I'm a documentary filmmaker. I'm here with Bishop Robert Barron documenting his stay. He's obviously not in the Conclave, he's not a cardinal, but he's doing a lot of news hits on a lot of the major networks. And I'm here supporting his daily updates for “Word on Fire.” And we're also doing this thing we're kind of calling "SmokeWatch," where, every time they burn the ballots, we just, I literally just got back from one an hour ago. They burned the ballots at 9 p.m. tonight, which was about two hours late, and it was the first vote of the Conclave. So yeah, I'm here supporting Bishop Barron and “Word on Fire” in my capacities as a filmmaker and covering the Conclave for a new pope."

What does it mean to you to be there for this moment?

"I very much held Pope Francis dear to me as the head of our church, and now our church is looking for a new leader, as we do when the pope passes. You know, for me to be here at this moment in history, and I think in our society, even in the world, the new election of a pope is a historic moment. And I got choked up today, I have to tell you, looking at the crowds and the people and and it means so much to the Catholic world, but also the world at large, because the pope is one of the largest, most recognizable leaders of religions across the world. And so people look to who the pope is for kind of a direction of the way the world kind of goes religiously, especially in the Catholic Church. And the Pope isn't political like you would think a political leader, the Pope is a religious leader, so he has so much to offer that I think political leaders don't, because we're looking at it from a stage of morality and the soul and things bigger than just today. You know, it's about eternal life as well."

How are people reacting to being in St. Peter’s Square waiting for the new pope?

"It's an exciting time. I can tell you, it's an exciting time for every Catholic that's here, for everybody that's on the street in Rome. There's such an energy you could feel it tonight when people were waiting on the smoke. I said, this is better than the Super Bowl. We're just watching this chimney. And, you know, people were excited, and they were cheering and they were clapping, and they were just waiting and watching this chimney. It's bringing a sense of peace amongst Catholics. I think people that were on the left or on the right or progressive or more conservative, we're all looking to who's going to become Pope, and know that we trust the Holy Spirit in whatever happens in the Conclave. And that's, you know, we put our trust in Christ and Holy Spirit. And it's just a joyful time and a hopeful time for us."

Do you have any hopes for the new leadership?

"I just really hope that we have a pastor, a leader of our church, that helps us stay strong and hopeful in a world that's hard to navigate sometimes, and to just find goodness, truth, and beauty in all that we do."

What does it mean to you as a Catholic to be there?

"For me, I don't just do Catholic films. I do films from a wide range of topics for clients, varying from financial to pharmaceutical to breweries, even, but some of the most endearing to me is traveling the world and filming Catholic stories."

"To be here and to be in this moment of history as a Catholic, to see I'll be there, up at the end of a camera on a 1200-millimeter lens, looking at the balcony when the new pope walks out. And I'm trying to prepare myself for that moment, because I think, I mean, I'm getting a little choked up thinking about right now, like it's going to mean something to me to experience that and to go home and tell my children about that, and my grandchildren and just witness the continuation of our church that we've had since Saint Peter."

"Catholicism is very much experienced tangibly. We have communion, we have the blessing of the blessing the sick, you know, baptism, all these things that are very tangible. And so to be here and experience just feeds into that tangibility of my Catholic faith.”