This is interesting. I would not have thought of it’s being an issue, because the SSPX priests are validly ordained. The point about “simulating a sacrament” makes sense, if the penitent knows that a valid absolution requires diocesan faculties, and knows a SSPX priest doesn’t have faculties, then clearly there’s a sense of defiance, just as if a person who wasn’t free to marry went through a marriage ceremony.
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.
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.