A 2006 letter from a top Vatican official confirms that the Holy See received information in 2000 about the sexual misconduct of now-resigned cardinal in the United States, lending credibility to bombshell accusations of cover-up at the highest echelons of the Catholic Church.

Catholic News Service on Friday published the letter from then-Archbishop Leonardo Sandri to the Rev. Boniface Ramsay, a New York priest.

Ramsay first informed the Vatican in a November 2000 letter about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's misconduct with seminarians from Seton Hall University.

Sandri's letter, dated Oct. 11, 2006, sought Ramsay's recommendation for a former seminarian, but it also references the priest's 2000 letter.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano cited the existence of the letter in his accusation that Pope Francis and Vatican officials before him covered up for McCarrick.