Religion

A Roman Catholic priest will feel governed by Cannon Law, not civil law and as such won't violate his oath despite changing of the laws.

If there is something to be changed in Cannon Law, it is at least that clergy that confess these things are not covered by the oath. That would address the vast majority of abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

And, yes, priests generally know who the penitent is when it is another member of the clergy.

If there is something that should be mandatory, it should be that absolution should be contingent upon self reporting of the crime.

The church teaches that there are steps to forgiveness and one of those is admitting the sin. Another is committing to not sinning again. And the last step is something akin the the alcoholic anonymous "amends" thing. I've often thought that a simple solution to all of this is merely to insist that the penitent go and self report to the police in order to receive absolution.