Raised in Dublin, Farrell was tapped by Pope Francis in 2019 to act as “camerlengo,” a role that has him overseeing the church’s operations and assets until a new pope is elected, as well as overseeing the conclave.

His duties are more extensive, however.

The camerlengo is the church official who verifies the pope’s death, then takes the Ring of the Fisherman from the pope’s hand and cuts it into pieces, signifying the end of that pontiff’s reign (and preventing it from being used to forge documents in his name).

Most of his time thereafter will be spent assisting the dean of the College of Cardinals in arranging the papal conclave, which typically takes place 15 to 20 days after the pope has died. There, cardinals will debate and vote for the next ruler of the church. Farrell can be elected, but is not considered to be a front-runner for the job.

While he’s Irish by birth, Farrell, 77, has spent time in Mexico, Rome, and the U.S., where he served as a bishop of the Diocese of Dallas from 2007 to 2016. He was summoned to the Vatican and appointed as a cardinal in 2016. That call to Rome, though, came as a surprise, he said at a press conference several years ago.

“And my assistant, administrative assistant, came in and said, ‘The pope’s on the telephone, and I felt like saying, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Eventually she did put on the pope, and he told me that he would like me to go to Rome because Dallas needed a much better bishop than I am,” Farrell joked.

While Farrell and Pope Francis did not see eye to eye on several matters, particularly the issue of same-sex marriage, Francis named him as camerlengo in 2019.