By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) -Italy's Catholic Church on Wednesday reported a rise in the number of suspected victims of abuse, mostly at the hands of priests, with 115 cases over the course of 2023-2024.

The figure, which includes as many as 21 children under 10 and 35 "vulnerable adults," compares with 89 alleged victims reported for 2020-2021 and 54 for the year 2022.

The suspected cases were linked to 67 alleged perpetrators, including 44 priests, 15 members of religious orders and eight laypersons, a report by the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) showed.

The global Catholic Church has been shaken for decades by scandals involving paedophile priests and the covering up of their crimes, triggering a crisis that is among the major challenges facing newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

Italy is one of the countries whose local bishops have been more reluctant to confront the issue, compared to other churches in Europe and North America.

The CEI has published reports on abuse since 2022, limited to the period from 2020. Other national churches, and even a single Italian diocese, have published research stretching back decades.

Italian bishops collect data on abuse from listening centres they have set up across the country, where people can flag cases involving themselves or others, obtain psychological or spiritual help, or ask for information.

But out of 103 such centres covered by Wednesday's report, around two-thirds had zero people reaching out to them during 2023-2024, suggesting a reluctance to turn to them.

Among the alleged cases reported, CEI said, there were 36 instances of inappropriate behaviour or language, 25 of inappropriate touching, 19 of sexual harassment, 11 involving sex, and three of grooming via social media or the internet.

The Italian church also said that just over half of the alleged abuse cases that were reported to its centres were committed in 2023-2024, with the rest dating from further back in time.

(Reporting by Alvise ArmelliniEditing by Bernadette Baum)