From a reader:
Can any priest hear a Confession on an airplane or ship? I know jurisdiction is automatic in emergencies, but what if a passenger was not in immediate danger and simply wanted to confess?
In general, yes. In the Latin Church, so long as the priest has faculties to receive sacramental confessions in either his diocese or his religious institute of incardination, the priest can validly absolve your sins anywhere you happen to be, even if you are not in immediate danger and even if one or both of you are not from the place where you run into each other.
If there is danger of death, as you mention, any validly ordained priest can validly absolve, even if he does not have faculties – for whatever reason. Even a “laicized” priest, out of ministry for whatever reason, can validly absolve in danger of death. The law itself gives him the faculty to absolve in cases of danger of death.
But in the normal case you are describing, that of running into a garden-variety priest in an airport or at a conference, yes, a priest can hear your confession and absolve you.
