Cardinal Kevin Farrell nervously adjusted the large cross hanging around his neck before he read out the words that jolted the world’s 1.4bn Catholics — and catapulted him into the spotlight. “Francis has returned to the house of the father,” he said in Irish-accented Italian, announcing the death of the pope.

With that, Farrell — the late Pope Francis’s most trusted troubleshooter — was left at the helm of Vatican City as the so-called camerlengo, or chamberlain, the custodian responsible for overseeing the Holy See’s day-to-day operations during the interregnum between popes. His most pressing task is organising next week’s conclave — the secretive election held to choose Francis’s successor. 

Vatican insiders say he is the perfect person for the role. “He has always been a practical man with very good skills in administration and managing money,” says Iacopo Scaramuzzi, author of several books on the Catholic Church. “During the vacancy, you have to have very open eyes on the finances. It is very important that it is well managed in this period and that nobody uses the vacancy to do something wrong.”