5 things to know about Cardinal Kevin Farrell, man leading Vatican until a new pope is elected
Background
According to his official Vatican biography, Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1947, attending the University of Salamanca in Spain, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of St. Thomas in Rome.
Farrell was ordained a priest in 1978, serving as chaplain of the Regnun Christi Movement at the University of Monterrey in Mexico and becoming a parish priest in the Washington D.C. area in 1983.
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He held various leadership positions in the Archdiocese of Washington, eventually being appointed the titular bishop of Rusuccuru and auxiliary bishop of Washington in 2001.
In 2007, Farrell was appointed as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, and in 2016, he was called by Pope Francis to serve in the Roman Curia as prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.
Francis later appointed him the position of camerlengo in 2019, as well as president of the Commission for Confidential Matters and president of the Vatican City State Supreme Court.
