The papal nuncio to Britain, a former Rome priest, said Monday that he did not hear Aldo Moro's final confession while the ex-premier was held captive by the Red Brigades in 1978.
Don Antonello Mennini told a special commission into the kidnapping and murder of the Christian Democratic by left-wing terrorists that he was not ever inside the brigade hideout where Moro was held. He also said that no documents or objects were given to him by Moro, kidnapped on March 16, 1978 and held for 55 days before being murdered despite appeals from levels as high as Pope Paul VI.
Some believed that Mennini had in fact heard Moro's final confession and might have insights to shed on the affair.
The fact the government under Giulio Andreotti refused to negotiate with the terrorists and security officials were unable to ever find Moro who was held in Rome has triggered decades of conspiracy theories.
Mennini, who went on to become a Vatican ambassador, had appeared before previous commissions of inquiry but maintained he had nothing to say.
There had been hopes that his stance might change since Pope Francis recently lifted his diplomatic immunity, granting permission for Mennini to appear.
Despite that, Mennini continued on Monday to stay mum, telling the commission that even the pope could not dissolve the solemn promise he made as priest to never discuss what is said in confession.
"The confession is a situation of secrecy...this is a divine law and not something on which someone can intervene," he said.
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