Between 1950 and 2015, 7% of Australian priests were accused of abusing children, according to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Over 40% of priests in some orders have been accused of abuse.

In tears, church official Francis Sullivan told the hearing Monday, “these numbers are shocking. They are tragic and they are indefensible.”

The commission’s findings provide yet more evidence of a global epidemic of sex abuse and cover-up within the church. Previous reports have documented widespread abuse in the United States, Ireland, Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany, among other countries.

The Vatican established a commission to investigate claims of sex abuse in 2013, while in 2015 Pope Francis created a church tribunal to judge bishops who failed to protect children from predatory priests.