Lucas there is a big difference between a person realizing that their soul is capable of the depths of evil and ... whatever fit you're having.
If *I* realize that *I* am capable of every evil and beg for God's grace and mercy, it doesn't mean I excuse the evil. It means I understand its depth and possibilities and approach my own salvation with fear and trembling. It's a realization of one's dependence, one's relationship with God's grace. It's more about one's understanding of self than it is about the other person. The sense of how evil such acts are and how sick human nature is triggers an outcry for GOD's mercy. Revelations like this ought to be a reminder for each of us to humble ourselves before God, do a little introspection. That introspection is interior and separate from the next question of what is to be done with people who prove themselves to be dangerous to society. That practical question, I agree with you, has been watered down greatly in the face of our very soft society.
As for what we are to think of the other person, shedding tears for a criminal is a perfectly Catholic thing to do, done by Our Lord Himself. He didn't sweat blood over the weight of our sins but then say "Oh except for pedophiles. They can go to Hell." The loss of any soul is worth shedding tears. Alexandria said she knows the family and is shocked by the revelation. Let her grieve in peace and hold on to what good she saw in him. Magna mentions a "short interval allowed to attempt to save his soul before departing this world." How do you think that is done, practically speaking? By force? No. Someone who still sees good in that soul, someone who still has hope for it, has to reach out and try to bring it back. Few of us are cut out for that but we should still appreciate that it has to be done. In this case, some people will be saddened and others will be angry. Both reactions are valid and even needed.
I hope this opens the eyes of some of the people vehemently against the Plan to Protect policies. (If it's been discussed here, I haven't seen the threads so this is not directed at anyone in particular.) The SSPX priests NEED protocols. Otherwise they are sitting ducks for this kind of article highlighting how they did nothing or next to it. Parents who keep thinking this doesn't happen "in the real world" (aka their own little trad worlds) need to wake up.