“Seems to me that a confession repeated would be nothing more than hearsay,”
Yes, I thought of that too.
It would be silly to go into a confessional and lie, but obviously it could be done, and you could go in there and make false accusations, etc.
Besides, some people are just hysterical and delusional, they get to go to confession too.
It would be hearsay if the pertinent matter was the abuse, but it isn't. The pertinent matter is whether the priest was told about the abuse, and whether as a mandatory reporter, he took no action based on the conversation. If the abuser were on trial, it would be hearsay. The abuser is not on trial, a point a number of people commenting on this thread appear not to understand.