I could imagine this. But again the real issue was that the men (the bishops) who had the power to act failed to do so. They cared more about the immediate reputation of the church institution than actually dealing with the issue. Alas their inaction and cover-ups would end up causing far more damage than what would have ever been done had they laicized and reported the perpetrators as soon as it became apparent that there was a serious problem within the priesthood.
Absolutely.
I think I'm coming at this from a different angle than the OP.
I don't think that there are a huge number of pedophiles who are being protected by priests
because of the seal of confession. Maybe there are a few, and addressing the problem will help in a small way, but I think there are other aspects of the predator priest problem that are higher priority in and of themselves.
Instead, like I alluded to before, I think that the bigger issue is with the special regard and influence - and sometimes special legal protections - that the Catholic Church enjoys.
I think we need to get to the point where it's just as easy to investigate, prosecute, and convict a pedophile priest as, say, a pedophile soccer coach. In order to do this, social change is definitely needed, but we also need to get rid of legal exemptions and privileges that priests and the Church have used in the past to protect themselves from the consequences of their actions.
I see the exemption for religious ministers from abuse reporting laws to be just one example of these special legal privileges that need to be done away with.