Pope Francis has ordered a priest who heard Aldo Moro's confession while he was a prisoner of the Brigate Rosse to testify to an Italian parliamentary committee that is still investigating the murder of the former Italian prime minister.

The Pope even cut through diplomatic practice and got Archbishop Antonio Mennini who is now papal nuncio in Britain to forego diplomatic immunity and go to Rome to testify.

The archbishop's testimony will be heard on Monday.

At the time of the Moro captivity in 1978, Don Antonello was a young priest of 31 years serving as a vice-parish priest in the Santa Chiara parish in Piazza dei Giochi Delfici, very near to the Moro home. 

According to what the former Italian President Francesco Cossiga said before he died in 2010, the priest had contacts with Moro when the latter was a prisoner of the BR, even confessed him and gave him Extreme Unction before he was killed.

He was also the secret channel between the BR and the Vatican since Pope Paul VI was a great friend of Moro and wanted to save him.

The priest was the son of Luigi Mennini, the deputy of Archbishop Marcinkus at the Vatican bank (IOR).

After the killing of Moro, the priest entered the Vatican diplomatic service and was sent to Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia,Uzbekistan and finally the UK.

The priest has never spoken about his experience and it had to be the Pope who cleared all obstacles which might have impeded his testimony.