Cardinal Kevin Farrell was appointed Bishop of Dallas by Pope Benedict XVI
Drimnagh Cardinal plays a key role in the papal election
DRIMNAGH Cardinal Kevin Farrell has played a central role following the death of Pope Francis.
In 2019, Pope Francis named Cardinal Farrell as the new ‘Camerlengo’, the prelate who runs the Vatican between the death or resignation of a pontiff and the election of a new one.
It was Cardinal Farrell who delivered the news of Pope Francis’s death to the world, speaking in Italian via his Dublin accent.
As Camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell is responsible for running the ordinary affairs of the Vatican until a new pope is elected.
It is thought to be the highest office in the Vatican ever to be held by an Irishman.
The second of four sons, his older brother is Brian Farrell, who was appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the Roman Curia in 2002.
Cardinal Farrell was born in Drimnagh in 1947 and ordained a priest in Rome in 1978.
The Farrell brothers hail from Galtymore Park and served as altar boys at Our Lady of Good Counsel.
In 2001, St John Paul II appointed Kevin Farrell as an auxiliary bishop of Washington DC in the US and in 2007 he was appointed Bishop of Dallas by Pope Benedict XVI.
He served in this role until Pope Francis appointed him as head of the new Vatican department for laity, family and life in 2016. He was made a cardinal the same year.
The brothers returned to the Drimnagh parish to celebrate Mass during the Eucharistic Congress of 2012.
According to the ‘Universi Dominici Gregis’ document which lays out the rules of the papal election process, it is the Camerlengo who must ensure the voting is carried out in a “smooth and orderly manner” with the “maximum discretion”.
It is also his responsibility to make sure the interior of the Sistine Chapel, where the voting takes place, and adjacent areas, be prepared so that the “orderly election and its privacy will be ensured.”
