Pope Francis (L), flanked by Head of the Vatican press office, Greg Burke, addresses reporters during a press conference in flight while returning from Ireland to The Vatican at the end of his two-day visit to Ireland on August 26, 2018.GREGORIO BORGIA/AFP/Getty Images

A retired ambassador has claimed that Pope Francis was made aware of sexual misconduct allegations but rehabilitated him anyway.

In a press conference aboard a plane on Sunday night, Pope Francis told reporters that he would not be speaking about accusations made by a retired Archbishop that he was aware of the sexual misconduct allegations against the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, but rehabilitated him anyway.  

The Pope said that the eleven-page document created by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to the US “speaks for itself.”

“It’s an act of trust,” he answered. “I won’t say a word about it.”

Read more: Vatican US official calls for Pope Francis’s resignation ahead of Phoenix Park Mass

Vigano claims that he discussed McCarrick with the Pope in 2013 when he was already under sanction and claims that Pope Francis knew of the allegations but rehabilitated him anyway.

“Holy Father, I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation of Bishops, there is a dossier this thick about him,” Vigano claims he told Francis.  

“He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.”

Soon after, however, he claims that McCarrick had started traveling on missions on behalf of the church once more.