One in 14 Catholic priests accused of abuse in Australia

7% of Catholic priests were accused of abusing children in Australia between 1950 and 2010 but the allegations were never investigated, "shocking and indefensible" data showed on Monday during an inquiry into paedophilia in the church.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that 4,444 alleged incidents of paedophilia were reported to church authorities and in some dioceses, more than 15% of priests were perpetrators.

The numbers confirm the extent of sexual predation already suggested by four years of royal commission hearings involving the church, which are now entering their final weeks.

Australia ordered the Royal Commission in 2012 after a decade of growing pressure to investigate allegations of child abuse across the country.

"Between 1950 and 2010, overall seven percent of priests were alleged perpetrators," Gail Furness, the lawyer leading questioning at the inquiry in Sydney, said.

"The accounts were depressingly similar. Children were ignored or worse, punished. Allegations were not investigated. Priests and religious (figures) were moved," she added.

"The parishes or communities to which they were moved knew nothing of their past. Documents were not kept or they were destroyed. Secrecy prevailed as did cover ups."

The average age of the victims at the time was 10 for girls and 11 for boys.

Of the 1,880 alleged perpetrators, 90% were men.

In some dioceses, up to 15% of priests were alleged perpetrators, with abusers most prevalent in the dioceses of Sale and Sandhurst in Victoria, Port Pirie in South Australia, and Lismore and Wollongong in New South Wales. The numbers were even worse in some national Catholic orders. However, the St John of God Brothers religious order was the worst, with just over 40% of members accused of abuse.

The commission has spoken to thousands of survivors and heard claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools.

The church in Australia set up the Truth, Justice and Healing Council to coordinate its response.

"These numbers are shocking, they are tragic, they are indefensible," its chief executive Francis Sullivan told the commission. "This data, along with all we have heard over the past four years, can only be interpreted for what it is: a massive failure on the part of the Catholic Church in Australia to protect children from abusers."

"As Catholics we hang our heads in shame," it added.