Roman Catholic Cardinal. Poggiole di Vernio born Giovanni Benelli was the youngest of the five surviving children of Luigi Benelli and Maria Simoni. His uncle, Friar Guido Benelli entered the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor and died with fame of holiness. Entering seminary in Pistoia on October 18, 1931, he later moved to Rome to further studies at the Pontifical French Seminary, the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Ordained priest on October 21, 1943 in the parish church of his native Poggiole di Vernio by Msgr. Giuseppe Debernardi, attached to the Secretariat of State of the Vatican City he served as private secretary to Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, Substitute of the Secretariat of State. Named Privy Chamberlain Supernumerary on July 16, 1950, he served as secretary of the apostolic nunciature in Ireland between 1950 and 1953 and successively in the nunciature of France. Auditor of the nunciature in Brazil, he was appointed Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on August 1, 1961. Counselor of the nunciature in Spain and permanent observer of the Holy See before the UNESCO in Paris between 1965 and 1966, Benelli was elected archbishop of the titular see of Tusuro and appointed pro-apostolic nuncio in Senegal and apostolic delegate in Western Africa on June 11, 1966. He received his episcopal consecration on September 11, 1966 in Rome from Cardinal Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. Named substitute of the Secretariat of State and secretary of the Cipher on June 29, 1967, soon becoming a powerful man in the Vatican's Secretariat of State known for his brusque and authoritarian manners, he was eventually appointed archbishop of the metropolitan see of Florence on June 3, 1977. Pope Paul VI created him cardinal priest in his last consistory held on the following June 27 with the title of Santa Prisca. Considered by many as a leading Papal candidate along with Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa, sources state that he received the majority of the votes in the first scrutinizes of the 1978 conclaves. A short, stocky man with a round face and a fringe of gray hair, he was not gregarious and associates remember him as a man whose work at the Vatican and then in Florence was his entire life. Benelli passed away on October 26, 1982 at the archiepiscopal palace of Florence. Having suffered a massive heart attack, he lapsed into a coma. Regaining consciousnesses in hospital, he insisted to die in his own bed, passing away just two hours after being transported at 6.42 am. Funeral mass, presided by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, took place on October 29 at the metropolitan cathedral basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. His remains are found buried inside the cathedral's crypt beneath a simple marble stone. The crypt was constructed during his episcopate and after having the remains of some former Florentine archbishops transferred there, he was the first prelate to be buried in it, followed by Cardinal Ermenegildo Florit in 1985.