Cardinal Kevin Farrell. Photo source: Paolo Santalucia / AP / Profimedia
With the death of Pope Francis, on Monday, on the second Easter day, the Vatican officially entered the “vacant headquarters” and the temporary leadership of the Holy See passes into the hands of the Camerleng: Cardinal Kevin Farrell. He was the one who announced the death of the Pontifical Sovereign, praising the dedication “towards the values of the Gospel, especially towards the poorest and marginalized”.
Kevin Joseph Farrell, 77, is an Irish-American cardinal born in Dublin on September 2, 1947. After studying in Spain and Italy, he started his service and then in the United States. Hirotonit priest in 1984 in Washington, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the same diocese in 2001, writes Euronews.
Farrell worked under the former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a figure later involved in a serious abuse scandal. Farrell has always denied any knowledge of McCarrick's actions.
In 2007 he was appointed bishop of Dallas. In 2016, Pope Francis desired in Rome to lead the new Dicaster for Laici, Family and Life, one of the pillars of the Romanian Curie Reform. A few hours after his arrival, the Sovereign Pontiff at Cardinal created. In 2019, during the return flight from the World Youth Day of Panama, Pope Francis also entrusted the delicate role of Camerleng.
The chamber is responsible for the administration of the Vatican state and the management of the ordinary functions of the Roman Curia during the interim, or the period between the death of a pope and the choice of his successor. He is the one who officially certifies the death of the pontiff, seals his apartments and breaks the fisherman's ring, a symbol of the papal authority. Farrell has already started these symbolic rites and, on Wednesday, led the solemn procession that accompanied Pope Francis to the “St. Peter” basilica in the Vatican.
Although not an ordinary thing, the caterleng can be chosen Pope. This happened, for example, with Gioacchino Pecci, who as a chamber was then elected Pope Leon XIII, in 1878. Farrell's position, therefore, does not exclude that his name could appear among the “papabils” during the next conclave.
Pope Francis, who died from a stroke followed by heart failure, will be buried on Saturday morning, April 26, in the “Santa Maria Maggiore” basil, after the religious ceremony in the “St. Peter” Square. It will be a historical moment for the Catholic Church, which will remain good from the Pope coming “from the end of the world” and will prepare to choose his successor (article made with the support of Rador Radio Romania)
