I'm having the same issue trying to build python3.10 on CentOS 7.9

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$ lsb_release -a
Distributor ID: CentOS
Description:    CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
Release:        7.9.2009
Codename:       Core

$ scl --list
devtoolset-8

$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 8.3.1 20190311 (Red Hat 8.3.1-3)
Copyright (C) 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

$ uname -r | cut -d"-" -f1
5.4.72
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I've built and installed openssl 3.0.0 in the default location.

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$ which openssl
/usr/bin/openssl

$ whereis openssl
openssl: /usr/bin/openssl /usr/lib64/openssl /usr/include/openssl /usr/share/man/man1/openssl.1ossl

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Attempting the fix listed in https://bugs.python.org/issue45371 I still am met with the same issue:

$ ./configure --enable-optimizations --with-lto --with-system-ffi --with-computed-gotos --enable-loadable-sqlite-extensions --with-openssl=/usr/lib64/openssl --with-openssl-rpath=auto

$ make -j40

...

Could not build the ssl module!
Python requires a OpenSSL 1.1.1 or newer

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Should I be using a path other than /usr/lib64/openssl?