Kevin Farrell

Kevin Joseph Farrell KGCHS (born September 2, 1947) is an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal and has served as prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life since 2016. In 2019, he was appointed Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church as well.

After his ordination in 1978, Farrell served as a chaplain and university teacher for several years in Mexico and worked in the United States from 1984 to 2016. He was an auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Washington in Washington D.C. from 2002 to 2007 and bishop of the Diocese of Dallas in Texas from 2007 to 2017.

Early life
Farrell was born on September 2, 1947, in Dublin, Ireland and grew up speaking Irish. He is 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.

Farrell obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Salamanca in Spain. He then entered the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a Master of Philosophy degree and Licentiate in Theology. He also attended the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, receiving a Master of Theology degree in dogmatic theology (1976) and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology in pastoral theology (1977). He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame also granted Farrell an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2017.

Priesthood
Farrell was ordained to the priesthood for the Legionaries of Christ by Cardinal Eduardo Pironio in Rome at Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica on December 24, 1978. After his ordination, Farrell served as a chaplain at the University of Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, where he also conducted seminars in bioethics and social ethics.

In the early 1980s, Farrell left the Legionaries to be incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington. In 1984, Farrell was assigned as an associate pastor at St. Peter's Parish in Olney, Maryland. He also served at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda, Maryland, and at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Washington, D.C. In 1985, Farrell was appointed director of the archdiocesan Spanish Catholic Center.

Farrell became acting director of Catholic Charities in the archdiocese in 1988, and served as secretary of finance from 1989 to 2001. The Vatican raised him to the rank of monsignor in 1995. In 2001, Farrell was named vicar general for the archdiocese and pastor of Annunciation Parish in Washington.

Auxiliary Bishop of Washington
On December 28, 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed Farrell as an auxiliary bishop of Washington with the titular see of Rusuccuru. He was consecrated on February 11, 2002, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. His co-consecrators were Cardinal James Hickey and Bishop Leonard Olivier.

Farrell served until 2007 as Washington's moderator of the curia and chief vicar general.

Bishop of Dallas
Farrell was appointed bishop of Dallas by Pope Benedict XVI on March 6, 2007, replacing Bishop Charles Grahmann. Farrell was installed on May 1, 2007.

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Farrell was a consultant to the Committee on Migration, which oversaw the Migration and Refugee Services department.

Farrell was the 2009 chair of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. His brother Brian Farrell is the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Kevin Farrell commented on his brother in 2015: "I'm younger, but I became bishop first, 12 months earlier. And we still have a little sibling rivalry."

Cardinal
On August 17, 2016, Pope Francis appointed Farrell prefect of the newly established Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in Rome.

On October 9, 2016, Francis announced he would raise Farrell to the rank of cardinal in a consistory on November 19, 2016. He was created a cardinal-deacon on that day and assigned to San Giuliano Martire Parish in Rome. On June 10, 2017, Francis named Farrell a member of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, and on December 23, 2017, a member of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. In July 2018, the University of Dallas named an administration building after Farrell, a former chancellor. On February 14, 2019, Francis named Farrell as camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

In June 2019, Farrell admitted receiving a $29,000 gift from Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to refurbish his Rome apartment. A 2018 apostolic visitation to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia revealed that he had been using diocesan funds for these gifts and his own personal spending. Farrell returned the $29,000 to the diocese; Bransfield was removed from office in July 2019.

On April 20, 2020, Farrell persuaded Francis to postpone both the 2021 World Meeting of Families and 2022 World Youth Day to June 2022 and August 2023 respectively due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On September 29, 2020, Francis appointed Farrell as president of the Commission for Confidential Matters, a new office in the Roman Curia. According to the church's apostolic constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, the commission is responsible "1. to authorize any legal, economic or financial act that for the greater good of the Church or of persons must be kept confidential and removed from the examination and supervision of the competent entities; 2. to monitor contracts of the Holy See which by law demand confidentiality and to exercise vigilance over them."

On June 7, 2022, Francis appointed Farrell as chair of the Pontifical Committee for Investments. According to Praedicate Evangelium, the committee is responsible for "guaranteeing the ethical nature of the Holy See’s equity investments in accordance with the Church’s social doctrine and, at the same time, monitoring their profitability, propriety and degree of risk.

On May 20, 2024, Pope Francis appointed Farrell as special envoy to the LIII International Eucharistic Congress, that will be held on September 8-15 in Quito, Ecuador.

Association with former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick
After McCarrick was laicized in 2018 for credible allegations of sexual abuse against a minor, further reports of accusations and legal settlements emerged, dating back years. These revelations led to public questions about whether bishops and clerics closely associated with McCarrick, including Farrell, had been aware of these accusations and settlements.


 * McCarrick had asked the Vatican to appoint Farrell as auxiliary bishop in Washington. Over the next six years, Farrell served as vicar general there. During this time, he shared a four-bedroom apartment with McCarrick and two priest secretaries.
 * Journalist Michael Winters termed McCarrick as Farrell's "mentor in the episcopacy."
 * According Farrell's website when he was bishop of Dallas, the lion rampant on his coat of arms "honors" McCarrick and the yellow and red coloring at the top right of his coat of arms is also derived from that of McCarrick.

World Meeting of Families 2018
In September 2015, the Vatican announced that the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) would be held in Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland, in 2018. In August 2016, Francis appointed Farrell as head of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. As a result, Farrell took charge of the 2018 WMOF. Farrell said that Francis' visit to Ireland would be "inspirational" and "counter negativity" towards the Irish church. On August 18, 2018, former Irish President Mary McAleese, a critic of the WMOF, said that meeting organizers had not invited her or her family to any of the WMOF events, saying: "It's always been essentially a right wing rally... and it was designed for that purpose, to rally people to get them motivated to fight against the tide of same sex marriage, rights for gays, abortion rights, contraceptive rights.""

On August 16, 2018, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, scheduled to lead a "pioneering session on child safeguarding", withdrew from the WMOF. On August 18, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, due to address the conference, also pulled out. Although organizers claimed to have sold over 500,000 tickets to WMOF, the Office of Public Works in Ireland confirmed that the attendance was only 152,000.

Women and LGBTQ people
In February 2018, Farrell banned McAleese, a supporter of women's ordination and same-sex marriage, from speaking at a Vatican conference on Women in the Catholic Church. McAleese sought an explanation for her exclusion from Francis through a canon law process, but received no response.

On March 18, 2021, Farrell defended a ban by Francis on the blessing of same-sex unions by priests. Farrell stated that a priestly blessing was a sacramental action related to marriage, which could only be between a man and a woman.

Gun control
Farrell is a supporter of gun control initiatives and opposes "deference to the gun lobby" by the United States Congress.