Pope John Paul II was warned of abuse claims against ex-cardinal: Report

The late Pope John Paul II was warned about allegations of sexual abuse by then-Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, but chose to promote him to Archbishop of Washington anyway, an internal Vatican investigation concluded on Tuesday. McCarrick wrote to Pope John Paul's private secretary to deny the allegations and his denial was believed, the report said.

With testimony from 90 witnesses and dozens of documents, letters and transcripts from Vatican and U.S. Church archives, the 460-page document offers a remarkable reckoning by an institution known for its secrecy, portraying a man long able to convince superiors of his innocence.

The report said that "credible evidence" that the former archbishop of Washington, D.C. had abused minors when he was a priest in the 1970s did not surface until 2017.

But it said the U.S. Church hierarchy was aware of consistent rumours that after McCarrick became a bishop in the early 1980s he preyed on adult male seminarians.

"During extended interviews, often emotional, the persons described a range of behaviour, including sexual abuse or assault, unwanted sexual activity, intimate physical contact and the sharing of beds without physical touching," the report's introduction says.

McCarrick has said he had no recollection of child abuse and has not commented publicly on allegations of misconduct with adults. Now aged 90, he is living in isolation.