The French Sauvé inquiry tragically illustrates yet again the cancer at the heart of the Western Church (“Report counts hundreds of thousands of abuse victims”, 9 October). The Church is exceptional among abusing institutions in that the victims are overwhelmingly boys rather than girls and the perpetrators are men sworn to celibacy. The Church hierarchy has repeatedly failed to deal with this cancer effectively. It is time for the laity to take over. We have the right to do this as it is our children who are suffering and we have to fund the huge costs of litigation, compensation and treatment. We need to know that our priests can be trusted with our children. The new synodal process provides an opportunity to start this process.