1. Opilio Rossi was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
19 Facts About Opilio Rossi
1. 2.
Opilio Rossi was born in New York, the son of Angelo Rossi and Davidina Ciappa.
3.
Opilio Rossi was ordained on 11 March 1933 in Rome.
4.
Opilio Rossi served as an attache at Vatican Secretariat of State from 1937 until 1938.
5.
Opilio Rossi was created Privy chamberlain supernumerary on 1 September 1938.
6.
Opilio Rossi was attached to the diplomatic corps serving as the secretary of the nunciature in Belgium from 1938 until 1939 and in the Netherlands from 1939 to 1940.
7.
Opilio Rossi was promoted to the Auditor of the nunciature in Germany from 1940 until 1945 and served in the same position in the Netherlands from 1945 to 1948.
8.
Opilio Rossi was appointed titular archbishop of Ancyra and appointed nuncio to Ecuador on 21 November 1953 by Pope Pius XII.
9.
Opilio Rossi was transferred to the nunciature in Chile on 25 March 1959 and again to Austria on 25 September 1961.
10.
Opilio Rossi attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 until the close of the council in 1965.
11.
Opilio Rossi was created Cardinal Deacon of S Maria Liberatrice a Monte Testaccio by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 24 May 1976.
12.
Opilio Rossi was appointed as President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on 20 December 1976.
13.
Opilio Rossi took part in the conclaves that elected Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II in August 1978 and October 1978.
14.
Opilio Rossi resigned the presidency of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on 8 April 1984 and was succeeded by Cardinal Eduardo Pironio.
15.
Opilio Rossi was Cardinal protodeacon from 2 February 1983 until 22 June 1987.
16.
Opilio Rossi opted for the order of cardinal priests after being ten years as a cardinal deacon and received the title of San Lorenzo in Lucina on 22 June 1987.
17.
Opilio Rossi lost the right to participate in a conclave when turned 80 years of age in 1990.
18.
Opilio Rossi died in 2004, at the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI in Rome.
19.
Opilio Rossi is buried at the chapel of Madonna di Lourdes, parish church of Scopolo, diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, where he used to pray as a child.