With Pope Francis’s death, the immediate running of the Vatican is now in the hands of one cardinal, Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
Known as the Camerlengo, and appointed by the pope, it is he who will lead meetings to determine the date of Francis’s funeral, and supervise other organisational tasks, culminating in the Conclave to elect the next pope.
On Monday evening, Farrell was due to preside over the rite that would see Francis’s body placed in his coffin in the chapel of the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta, where the pope had resided, and died.
Earlier on Monday, it was Farrell who announced to the world the death of the 88-year-old pope.
“This morning at 7:35 am (0535 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father.
“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church,” said Farrell, speaking from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.
Farrell, 77, who has dual American and Irish citizenship, has served as Camerlengo since February 2019.
Known for his sense of humour and for speaking Spanish with an Irish brogue, the cardinal — who once was chaplain at Mexico’s University of Monterrey — now serves as the prefect for the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
He was asked by Francis in 2016 to head the newly created dicastery combining the functions of two previous ones, and moved to Rome for his first Vatican posting.
He was made a cardinal by Francis that same year.
Since January 2024, Farrell has been president of the Vatican City State Supreme Court.
Earlier, he spent the bulk of his priesthood in the United States, nearly 30 years in the Washington DC area and nine years in Dallas.
In a 2016 interview in The Irish Times, Farrell explained how when his secretary in Dallas told him that Pope Francis was on the phone to tell him he would be made a cardinal, he told her, “Like hell he is”.
“I kept saying to her, ‘No, that is one of my bishop friends, just messing.’”
In his role of temporarily managing the Holy See, Farrell will be helped by three cardinals.
As Camerlengo, he has the right to ask all the Vatican departments for budget reports, economic information and details on other ongoing affairs.
