Covering their asses, maybe. Taking care of loose ends. Maybe even trying to make some kind of crude peace with mages? [He sounds distinctly unhappy about all those possibilities.] After all these years, a lot of the cats have long left the bag; it doesn't seem like a great time to suddenly try and save face.

Which means I don't like it. Especially being perfectly willing to hand names over to mages with grudges. That doesn't fit any Templar or Chantry MO that I'm aware of. Could be someone on high is starting to realize this is a war of attrition, and that they aren't gonna have the numbers to take on the Venatori themselves. Make whatever peace with mages that their pride is willing to let them, make a peace offering of any Templars stupid enough not to fall back into ranks.

Can't be sure, though.