Brian Farrell (bishop)

Brian Farrell L.C. (born 8 February 1944) is an Irish Catholic bishop and currently Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Within the Council he is Vice-President of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

Bishop Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland. He joined the Legion of Christ in 1961 and was ordained a priest on 26 November 1969 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome. From 1970 to 1976 he was the novice director in the Legionary seminary in Orange, Connecticut. He obtained his licentiate in philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University and his licentiate in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and in 1981 earned a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1981 to 2002 he served the Vatican's Secretariat of State, from 1999 as head of the English desk in the Office of General Affairs.

On 19 December 2002 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Abitinae and named Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He was consecrated a bishop on 6 January 2003 by Pope John Paul II; his consecrators were Archbishops Leonardo Sandri and Antonio Maria Vegliò.

In 2003 Bishop Farrell contributed an article to the catalogue for "The Tension of Origin," an exhibition of works by Italian artist Giovanni Bonaldi which engaged in Jewish-Christian dialogue through artistic expression.

In 2010 Bishop Farrell was one of four advisors to Archbishop Velasio De Paolis during his task as Papal Delegate to the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, and assisted him in fulfilling his duties in the reorganisation of the Mexican congregation. In 2015 he ordained twenty new Legionaries of Christ deacons.

Bishop Farrell is the older brother of Cardinal Kevin Farrell, whom Pope Francis appointed in August 2016 the first Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.