Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, President of the Commission for Confidential Matters, President of the Committee for Investments, was born on 2 September 1947, in Dublin, Ireland. After completing primary and secondary school, he attended the University of Salamanca in Spain and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He holds a licentiate in philosophy and theology from the University of St. Thomas in Rome. He entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1966 and was ordained a priest on 24 December 1978.

After ordination he served as chaplain of the Regnum Christi Movement at the University of Monterrey in Mexico. Since 1983, he exercised his pastoral ministry in the parish of St. Bartholomew in Bethesda, in the Archdiocese of Washington.

In 1984 he was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington, where he held the following positions: assistant pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish (1984-1985); Director of the Spanish Catholic Center (1986); acting Executive Director of the Catholic Charitable Organizations (1987-1988); Secretary for Financial Affairs (1989-2001); and pastor of Annunciation Parish (2000-2002).

He was appointed titular Bishop of Rusuccuru and auxiliary of Washington on 28 December 2001, and received episcopal consecration on 11 February 2002. Beginning in  2001 he held the office of Vicar General for Administration and Moderator of the Curia. On 6 March 2007, he was appointed Bishop of Dallas.

On 15 August 2016, Pope Francis called him to serve in the Roman Curia, as Prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.

He was created and proclaimed a Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 19 November 2016, and was assigned the deaconry San Giuliano Martire.

On 14 February 2019, Pope Francis nominated him Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

On 25 August 2020, the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Kevin Farrell President of the Commission for Confidential Matters.

On 2 June 2023, the Holy Father appointed the Cardinal Keven Joseph Farrell President of the Vatican City State Supreme Court, with effect from 1 January 2024.

Member of:

• Dicasteries: for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for Legislative Texts; for Evangelization, Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World.
• Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See;
• Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.