Following Pope Francis’ death Monday at age 88, the Vatican will have an acting head until a new pontiff is chosen during the conclave process. That acting head, or camerlengo,.
Following Pope Francis’ death Monday at age 88, the Vatican will have an acting head until a new pontiff is chosen during the conclave process. That acting head, or camerlengo, is Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, and ultimately became a naturalized US citizen, NPR reports. Francis nominated the 77-year-old as camerlengo (which means “chamberlain”) in 2019; Farrell had come to the Vatican at the pope’s request—”summoned out of the blue” is how the AP puts it—in 2016, and once there he rose quickly. Farrell was ordained as a priest in 1978 and served in Mexico before coming to the US in 1984; he was bishop of Dallas, a position to which he’d been appointed in 2007, when he was sent to the Vatican.
