I do respect it, and understand the slippery slope. But it sure looks bad after all the church has been through with pedophiles to draw a hard line about keeping their secret from the police.
Another part of me wonders if Jesus and the moneychangers being driven from the Temple fits here. Imagine if before the world, a priest hearing about sodomy grabbed a pedophile by the scruff of the neck and marched him out the front door, slapped his face and kicked him down the steps.
The pews would fill up again. It might be the Trump style turn around the church could use. For the world to see dramatically that. Nobody could ever accuse the church again if they took a zero tolerance stand and made sure everyone knew it.
I know that won’t ever happen, but what would have happened in some Boston or New York church in say, 1905 if some priest found out some guy molested boys. I bet it would have been much rougher than today.
Attacking the integrity of the Sacrament of Reconciliation won't accomplish anything other than drive good, saintly priests to prison, as Communists, Nazis and all tyrants do. For one thing, nobody would go to confession if they thought the priest would tell what was said. Not only for criminal matters, but for any matter.
In any case, nobody has the authority to change the secrecy of the confessional. Nobody. It's an intrinsic feature of the Sacrament. As I said, I priest should rather die than violate that.