a form of institutionalized witness intimidation and/or perverting the course of justice and thus illegal (at least in the USA, Ireland, UK and Canada)?

Frank Schnittger:

Given that these procedures were governed by the same code of Canon law and Vatican documents like Crimen sollicitationis, it is hardly surprising that the same patterns are evidenced worldwide.  All the Bishops who did this reported directly to Rome where their reports remain held in secret to this day despite the fact that they contain details of criminal behaviour on a vast scale.

The point is not to be right, but to get to right.