Who is Cardinal Farrell? The Vatican's interim leader in search of a new Pope

On a flight back from World Youth Day 2019, Pope Francis casually asked Cardinal Kevin Farrell to take on a role steeped in Vatican tradition: camerlengo.

- NICOLE WINFIELD

This position, also known as chamberlain, involves managing the Holy See during the sensitive period between papacies and orchestrating the conclave to elect the next pope.

Cardinal Farrell, then relatively new to Rome after being summoned from Dallas, Texas to lead the Vatican’s laity office, accepted the role with a humorous condition: that the Pope preach at his funeral. The stipulation reflected Cardinal Farrell’s hope that he would predecease Francis, thereby avoiding the weighty responsibilities of the camerlengo.

Underlying the jest was a deeper sentiment. Cardinal Farrell not only felt the burden of the position but also expressed a personal desire not to outlive a pope he deeply admired.

He credited Francis with initiating a crucial shift in the Catholic Church, moving away from defensive culture wars towards a more inclusive, Gospel-centered approach.

“We were defending ourselves always: self-preservation was the theme of the church,” Cardinal Farrell observed, contrasting this with Pope Francis’s emphasis on “welcome and accompaniment”.

This shift, in Cardinal Farrell’s view, marked a vital renewal for the Church, redirecting its focus towards its core values.

With Francis’s death, though, Cardinal Farrell is in the spotlight, albeit only until a new pope is elected.

Cardinal Farrell on Monday morning announced the death from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta hotel where Francis lived and died. In a short statement read live on Vatican television, he said Francis’ “entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church”.