Cardinal Kevin Farrell on May 2, 2017. / Credit: Lucia Ballester/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 21, 2025 / 17:28 pm (CNA).
Following the death of Pope Francis, an Irish-American cardinal is playing a leading role in overseeing Vatican affairs until the election of a new pope.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell is a key figure in the papal succession because of his appointment in 2019 as the camerlengo of the apostolic chamber.
The responsibilities of the camerlengo, or chamberlain, include ascertaining the pope's death, performing some of the rites connected to a papal funeral, overseeing the preparations for a conclave, and managing the administration of the Holy See until the election of the next pope.
Farrell's nomination as camerlengo was one of several marks of the deep trust Pope Francis placed in the Dublin-born cleric.
In 2016, the pope named Farrell prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, which replaced the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family. He gave him the cardinal's red hat months later.
As prefect, Farrell oversaw the planning of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018 and in Rome in 2022. He also oversaw World Youth Day in Panama in 2019 and in Portugal in 2023.
In 2020, Pope Francis put the cardinal in charge of a committee monitoring internal Vatican financial decisions that fell outside other accountability norms, making him uniquely informed about Vatican finances among the hierarchy.
In 2022, the pope also appointed Farrell chairman of a new commission to oversee investments.
At the start of 2024, the cardinal added another position to his list of responsibilities: president of the court of cassation — the Vatican's so-called "supreme court" — in another papal nomination.
In his most recent sign of trust in Farrell, Pope Francis also put the cardinal in charge of the reform of the Vatican's gravely unbalanced pension fund, naming him "sole administrator," at a critical juncture.
At the death of the pope, Farrell ceased each of these roles — except for camerlengo.
Who is Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell?
Kevin Joseph Farrell was born in Ireland on Sept. 2, 1947. He entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood on Dec. 24, 1978. Farrell studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain and the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.
He served as chaplain of the Legion of Christ's apostolic movement Regnum Christi at the University of Monterrey in Mexico. He later denied having prior knowledge of sexual abuse on the part of the Legion of Christ's founder, Marcial Maciel.
After leaving the Legionaries, Farrell was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington in 1984, serving in roles including director of the Spanish Catholic Center before becoming the archdiocese's finance officer in 1989.
In 2002, he was named an auxiliary bishop of Washington, serving as moderator of the curia and vicar general, a chief advisory role, to then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Farrell lived together with McCarrick in a renovated parish building in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood for six years. He later denied having any knowledge of accusations of sexual abuse against McCarrick, who was dismissed from the clerical state in 2019.
Farrell caused controversy in 2018 after he suggested in an interview with an Irish Catholic magazine that priests lacked the necessary experience to provide adequate marriage preparation to engaged couples.
The comment echoed a statement of his from 2017 that priests have "no credibility when it comes to living the reality of marriage."
The cardinal was a prominent defender of Pope Francis' controversial 2016 apostolic exhortation on love in the family, Amoris Laetitia.
"There is nothing in Amoris Laetitia that is contrary to the Gospel," he said in 2019. "What does Francis do? He goes to the Gospel. Look at every chapter, it's straight out of one of the Gospels or the letters of St. Paul."
As prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, Farrell helped coordinate the Vatican's initiatives for the Amoris Laetitia Family Year, marking the fifth anniversary of the text's publication.
Role of the camerlengo
The camerlengo is one of only a few major officials of the Roman Curia who does not lose his office while the papacy is vacant. The camerlengo, whose role is regulated by the 1996 document Universi Dominici Gregis and the 2022 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, administers Church finances and property during the interregnum.
Paragraph 17 of Universi Dominici Gregis says that "the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church must officially ascertain the pope's death" and "must also place seals on the pope's study and bedroom," and later "the entire papal apartment."
The camerlengo is also responsible for notifying the cardinal vicar for Rome of the pope's death. The cardinal vicar then notifies the people of Rome by special announcement. The camerlengo takes possession of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican and the palaces of the Lateran and of Castel Gandolfo and manages their administration. As Pope Francis resided in the Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City and not the Apostolic Palace, the camerlengo will also be required to take possession and seal those quarters as well for the duration of the sede vacante.
Only the pope may choose the cardinal to fill the position of camerlengo, though he may also leave it vacant, in which case, the College of Cardinals would hold an election to fill the office at the start of a sede vacante.
