Roman Catholic Cardinal. Morfasso born Silvio Angelo Pio Oddi was the twelfth of fourteen children. Entering seminary in Piacenza, he furthered his studies at the local Collegio Alberoni and later in Rome at the Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum and the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Ordained priest in Piacenza on May 21, 1933, entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See he was named secretary of the apostolic delegation in Iran in 1936 and successively of that of Lebanon and Syria in 1939, Egypt in 1945 and France in 1948. Regent of the nunciature in Yugoslavia between 1951 and 1953, Pope Pius XII elected him archbishop of the titular see of Messembria on July 30, 1953 and appointed him apostolic delegate in Jerusalem, Palestine, Transjordania and Cyprus, with Oddi receiving his episcopal consecration in Piacenza on the following September 27 from Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. Appointed internuncio in Egypt on January 11, 1957 and nuncio in Belgium and internuncio in Luxembourg on May 17, 1962, Pope Paul VI created him cardinal deacon in the consistory of April 28, 1969 with the deaconry of Sant'Agata dei Goti and appointed him president of the Commission of Cardinals for the Pontifical Shrines of Pompei and Loreto and pontifical legate for the Patriarchal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi on June 13 that year. Opting for the order of cardinal priests, his deaconry was elevated 'pro illa vice' to title on June 30, 1979. Named prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy on September 29, 1979, he acted as camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals between June 25, 1984 and June 22, 1987. Resigning the prefecture on January 9, 1986, he was the cardinal patronus of the Milizia del Tempio - Ordine dei Poveri Cavalieri di Cristo from 1993 until his death. Passing away at a hospital in Cortemaggiore, he was laid to rest in his native Morfasso in a specially constructed marble sarcophagus inside the old parish church. It was through his initiative that the local "Casa dell'accoglienza Santa Franca" for elderly people was inaugurated in 1983.