The Catholic Church is continuing to cover the legal bills of convicted paedophile and Christian Brother Robert Best, who has admitted to sexually abusing a further 20 boys in his care, a Victorian court has been told.

Best, 76, admitted on Monday to 24 charges of indecent assault against the boys, mostly aged between eight and 11 years old.

The County Court heard the abuse took place between 1968 and 1988 while Brother Best was a principal, teacher and year level co-ordinator at four schools: St Alipius at Ballarat, St Leo's at Box Hill, St Joseph's at Geelong and St Bernard's at Essendon.

Best was sentenced to 14 years and nine months jail in 2011 for sexual crimes against 11 boys during the same period.

His latest guilty pleas take the total number of victims to 31.

Best joined the Christian Brothers order in February 1959 and was aged between 28 and 47 at the time of the offending.

He taught in secondary schools between 1988 and his retirement from teaching in 1994, and during that time did not offend against students.

Judge Geoffrey Chettle said it "just blows me away" the Catholic Church order was still funding Best's legal defence and he remained a Christian Brother.

He described Best's offending over such a long period of time as "gobsmacking".

"It's hard not to get angry, and I'm trying not to be," the judge said.

"The reality is your client is unlikely to ever get out of jail … we're talking realistic prospects that he will die in jail."

Victim struggles to reveal emotional pain

Best showed no emotion as victims detailed how the abuse had ruined their lives.

Like 57-year-old Keith Davison, most victims abused drugs and alcohol to try to mask their emotional pain.

Mr Davison became upset in court and was unable to read all of his victim impact statement.

Outside court, he said he was abused by Best when he was aged about 11 while attending St Alipius primary school at Ballarat.

"In the past, I chose not to talk about it, I chose to abuse either drugs or alcohol and lots of it," he said.

But he is determined to move on with his life and hopes the sentence will bring him closure.

"Emotionally, I have to see a counsellor every fortnight for this," he said.

Prosecutor Peter Rose QC said some of Best's victims were abused in front of other students.

He said Best would comfort his victims when they became upset, telling one boy "it will all be OK".

Mr Rose said another victim "began to cry and the accused told him to be a man".

"The accused told him not to tell anyone and then sent him outside," Prosecutor Rose said.

In a statement, the Christian Brothers Oceania Province again apologised for Best's crimes.

Best will be sentenced next week.