Msgr. John Kennedy, head of the disciplinary action section at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives a talk at the Catholic Media Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., June 19, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Pope Francis has appointed a Dublin diocesan priest as an Archbishop-elect. Monsignor John Kennedy is currently Secretary of the Disciplinary Section of the Dicastery for the Congregation of the Faith at the Vatican.
The body has a Doctrinal and Disciplinary section each coordinated by a Secretary who assists the Prefect in the specific area of his competence.
Archbishop-elect Kennedy was appointed to his current role in April 2022.
Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell said the latest appointment by Pope Francis was a sign of the “personal appreciation” of the Pontiff for the work of Monsignor Kennedy. Archbishop Farrell wished him “every blessing in his ministry which is directed to the life of the Church universal and as well as the local”.
Archbishop-elect Kennedy was ordained as a priest in 1993. In 1998, he was invited by Cardinal Desmond Connell to study Canon Law at the Gregorian University in Rome. He began working at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in January 2003 and was made a Chaplain of Honour to the Pope, with the title of Monsignor in 2008.