Cardinal Kevin Farrell

Photo: Vatican News

Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, Archdiocese of Washington, Diocese of Dallas

As vicar general and moderator of the curia of the Washington archdiocese, Farrell acted as former Cardinal McCarrick’s chief deputy and lived with McCarrick from 2002-2006 when the Archdiocese of Newark paid out an $80,000 settlement to one of his victims. He still claimed he never had “any reason to suspect” the abuse allegations against his friend and boss. (Earlier in his career, Farrell was also a senior figure in the Legionaries of Christ, led by notorious abuser Marcial Maciel.) In 2019, a man sued the Diocese of Dallas for abuse as a minor and an adult by Fr. Timothy Heines. The lawsuit alleged that Farrell failed to report the abuse to diocesan review board or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, telling Heines’ parish that he was resigning due to “boundary issues” with a “consenting adult.” 

SNAP filed a complaint against Farrell under the pope’s 2023 decree Vos estis lux mundi on March 25, 2025

Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2023 decree, allows any bishop, cardinal, or religious superior to be reported and investigated for abuse or cover-up. These complaints, submitted to the Vatican, are not verdicts of guilt. They are evidence-based calls for investigation—each meeting the church’s own standard of “serious indications” that a violation occurred. In civil terms, this is equivalent to probable cause or reasonable grounds to investigate.

Every filing draws from a solid foundation of survivor and eyewitness testimony, public records and church statements, independent investigations by media and legal experts, official church documents and canonical proceedings, testimony, depositions, and court-ordered documents from criminal and civil cases.