VATICAN CITY (AP) — Email correspondence shows disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was placed under Vatican travel restrictions in 2008 for sleeping with seminarians, but regularly flouted those rules with the apparent knowledge of Vatican officials under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

The email excerpts, released Tuesday by a former aide, make it clear that retired Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl knew about the restrictions, despite claims of ignorance after the McCarrick scandal exploded last year.

Francis defrocked McCarrick in February after a church investigation confirmed that McCarrick sexually abused minors and adults.

The existence of prior Vatican restrictions on McCarrick has been the subject of debate ever since a retired Vatican diplomat accused Francis of rehabilitating McCarrick from the restrictions in 2013, despite knowing of his behavior.

The correspondence was first reported by the Crux website and CBS.