While the priests are validly ordained, they are suspended a divinis.
On the other hand, one could confess to a layperson, simply as a pious exercise in penitence, and that wouldn’t bring this area of canon law up at all.
I don't mean to laugh but that brings up a situation here where, an individual who studied to become a deacon but never completed the program, has been visiting local area prisons and hearing confessions. He is a bizarre individual who, when turned away by one of the most progressive dioceses, became vindictive. He is a very confused individual. Your comment also reminds me of a story I heard years ago, about a Jewish man who would go to confession at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. The priest, of course, could not give him absolution.
I wasn’t thinking of weird people, but of someone, perhaps with no connection to Catholicism, who might want to confess his sins to another person. The Bible, after all, says “Confess your sins to one another,” and that can be understood in a variety of different ways.
“The priest, of course, could not give him absolution.”
No, but the Jewish guy at least got someone to listen to his problems for a few minutes without having to pay a therapist’s bill!
It happens more often than you would think. I used to go as a catechumen.
It is an ongoing matter of controversy whether any of the SSPX priests were ever under suspension (as opposed to the original bishops).
Yes, you can find innumerable internet references and even Vatican liberal newsletters that say so but hey, they don't determine truth.
At any rate, Pope Benedict has not directed the SSPX to "stop doing what you're doing" and then come talk to us.