Raimondi was born in Lussito,
Acqui, to Giovanni Raimondi and his wife Maria Giacchero. He attended the
seminary in Acqui before being
ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Lorenzo Del Ponte on 6 June 1936. Raimondi then furthered his studies in Rome at the
Pontifical Lateran University. He was summoned to the elite
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy where he studied diplomacy. From 1938 to 1942, Raimondi was secretary of the
Guatemalan
nunciature, during which time he was raised to the rank of a
Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on 3 March 1939. He then served as
auditor of the
Apostolic Delegation to the United States until 1949. Within the internunciature to
India, Raimondi was
counselor and ''
chargé d'affaires'' from 1949 to 1953. He was named a
Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on 5 March 1951, and an official of the
Vatican Secretariat of State in 1953. On 24 December 1953, Raimondi was appointed
Titular Archbishop of Tarsus and
Nuncio to
Haiti, and Apostolic Delegate to the
British and
French West Indies. He received his
episcopal consecration on 31 January 1954 from Cardinal
Adeodato Giovanni Piazza,
OCD, with Archbishop
Antonio Samoré and Bishop
Giuseppe Dell'Olmo serving as
co-consecrators, in the church of
San Carlo al Corso. Raimondi was later named Apostolic Delegate to
Mexico on 15 December 1956. He attended the
Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. He was made
Apostolic Delegate to the United States on 30 June 1967.
Pope Paul VI created him
Cardinal-Deacon of
Ss. Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari in the
consistory of 5 March 1973, and appointed him prefect of the
Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints on the following 21 March. Cardinal Raimondi was once described as "a liberal who knows his limitations" and "a likable man who wants to be liked". Raimondi died from a heart attack in
Vatican City at age 62. He is buried in his family's plot in Acqui. ==References==