Richard Scorer’s article on the abuse scandal in the Church and in society was honest, measured and well researched (“The stain that remains”, 5 March). As he rightly says, the Church still has a long way to go in dealing with historic abuse. In the same issue, you report that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, has argued that it is individual priests who are responsible for the abuse scandal, not the Church (“No cover-up of abuse by Church”, The Church in the World). But as the film Spotlight reminds us, abuse within the Church was systemic and the institutional cover-up was extensive. One of the most chilling moments in the film comes at the end, when a list appears of all the places where abuse by priests has been uncovered. It is a very long list.