VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) - Pope John Paul II promoted ex-U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2000 despite rumours of his sexual misconduct, a Vatican report found, one of a series of failings by popes and officials who let him rise through the ranks regardless of repeated allegations against him.McCarrick, a highly influential figure in the American Church, was expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood last year after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults and abuse of power. With testimony from 90 witnesses and dozens of documents, letters and transcripts from Vatican and U.S. Church archives, the 450-page document offers a remarkable reckoning by an institution known for its secrecy, portraying a man long able to convince superiors of his innocence. Even the current pope, Francis, was questioned for the report, which the Vatican said he ordered to be published “for the good of the universal Church”. 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. Barry Coburn, McCarrick’s lawyer, said in an email that there would be no comment. DENIAL ‘WAS BELIEVED’ The report has gained significance since it was ordered by Pope Francis in 2018 and one of McCarrick’s alleged victims has since sued the U.S. Church in a trial expected to home in on what officials knew.