The report comes four months after a flurry of allegations that Bishop Hubbard had sexual relationships with several men and a street hustler decades ago. The charges roiled the Albany Diocese and put the bishop, a force in the city for 40 years, on the defensive.

The investigation was led by Mary Jo White, a former United States attorney in Manhattan who was retained at great expense by the diocese's lay review board, which is appointed by Bishop Hubbard. The diocesan self-insurance fund, ultimately financed by parishioners, is paying the bill.

Ms. White said the bishop had passed a lie detector test in saying he had never had "sex of any kind" with another person. "The facts did not substantiate any of the charges against Bishop Hubbard," Ms. White said at a news conference in Albany.

The investigators took pains to lay out the extent of their efforts, pointing out that the report was 200 pages and had 350 pages of exhibits. They also said they had interviewed 300 people and reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents, including personnel records and the bishop's phone logs and appointment books.

Bishop Hubbard had always strenuously denied the charges and said that he had never broken his vow of celibacy, but that the investigation would be the only way to clear his name.

The allegations arose in February, when a man said he had come across a suicide note from his brother mentioning an affair with a bishop named Howard. Soon after, a second man said that he had several sexual encounters with Bishop Hubbard as a homeless teenager in the 1970's.

The investigation found "no credible evidence" of a relationship with either individual or evidence that the bishop "led a homosexual lifestyle, engaged in homosexual relations or visited gay bars."

Several priests and even Bishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester, one of Bishop Hubbard's oldest friends, were asked whether they had sex with him and passed polygraph tests in denying it.

The bishop and his supporters are clearly hoping that the report will put an end to a chapter that has left the 65-year-old bishop, one of the nation's most liberal and long-serving, fighting for his reputation. Bishop Hubbard has led the diocese since 1977.

Like most of the nation's bishops, he was criticized by victims of sexual abuse by priests. Longtime conservative Catholic critics stepped up their opposition to the bishop, promoting the misconduct allegations.

John Aretakis, a leading foe of the bishop and a lawyer for many people who said they were abused by Albany priests, denounced the report, saying Ms. White was not independent. He also represents the two men who came forward in February.

"Bishop Hubbard paid somewhere upwards of a million dollars, maybe much more, to buy himself a judge, jury and investigator to try and clear him," Mr. Aretakis said. He said he had refused to cooperate because Ms. White had not agreed to a public meeting before reporters, and because it would hurt his clients to have her publicly question their credibility. Ms. White said yesterday that Mr. Aretakis's refusal to cooperate had extended the time and cost of the investigation.

While she refused to estimate the cost, it is sure to be extremely high. She alone charged $770 an hour, not to mention the fees of two other members of her firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, who worked on the case, several investigators and expenses.

Her report addressed another mystery, that of the authorship of a 1995 letter addressed to Cardinal John O'Connor accusing Bishop Hubbard of sexual relationships with several priests. The report said that there was no credible evidence to support the charges and that the priests had passed lie-detector tests in denying the relationships.

The letter emerged in news reports in February that said it had been written by an Albany priest and ideological critic of the bishop, the Rev. John Minkler. Father Minkler denied writing it, then committed suicide.

The report said it was "very likely" that Father Minkler had written the letter, along with several other notes accusing the bishop of sexual involvement with priests. The investigators said they had found nothing to support Father Minkler's claims.

Bishop Hubbard was still digesting the report yesterday, said a spokesman, the Rev. Kenneth Doyle. A statement released by the diocese said the report "makes clear to any fair-minded person that Bishop Hubbard has told the truth, that he has honored his priestly vow of celibacy and that the allegations against him were completely and utterly false."

The most intriguing aspect of the report referred to an unnamed priest formerly of the Albany Diocese who looked like Bishop Hubbard and "led a homosexual lifestyle." He called himself "the bishop," the investigators said, and failed a lie detector test when denying that he had used the term.

Ms. White said witnesses testified that the priest was known to frequent Washington Park in Albany and pick up young men for sexual encounters. One of Bishop Hubbard's recent accusers, Anthony Bonneau, frequented the park around the same time. There is no evidence that the two ever met, Ms. White said.

The diocese declined to identify the priest, but said he was removed from ministry more than a decade ago.

Before taking his current post, Bishop Hubbard was a "street priest" who worked with the homeless and drug addicts. He used to take runs in Washington Park, the report said.

Ms. White said her task had been difficult. "The only thing harder to do than to unscramble an egg," she said, "is to unscramble a rumor."

Marc Santora contributed reporting for this article from Albany.