If you’ve ever scratched your head during Mass and thought, “Wait, didn’t Jesus say, ‘Call no man Father’? But we call the Pope Holy Father?”
Fr. Simon is ready to untangle it with wit and wisdom. 😄📖
📜 It’s a Custom
Fr. Simon starts by clarifying:
“Holy Father” is a custom, rooted in our hope that the Pope is holy.
But more than that, the papacy itself is a divine institution, set up by God as part of the Church’s structure.
❗But Doesn’t Jesus Say, “Call No Man Father”?
Ah yes, the classic gotcha verse. Fr. Simon explains:
Yes, Jesus said that, but He also said, “Call no man teacher or rabbi,” and yet we still say things like Dr. Billy Graham, and “Reverend” is just a fancy version of “Rabbi.”
In the Bible, St. Paul literally calls himself a father to the Corinthians and talks about spiritual fatherhood all the time (he clearly didn’t get the memo from Matthew… kidding! He wrote big chunks of the New Testament 😉).
Spiritual Fatherhood Has Deep Roots
This idea of calling priests Father really took off with the monastic movement:
-Monks had spiritual directors known as “fathers.”
-Eventually, this extended to all priests in some places.
And when it comes to the Pope, the word Papa (Greek for “dad”) became his title:
-In the Eastern Church, all priests are called papa.
-But in the West, it became reserved just for the Bishop of Rome, aka the Pope.
🙏 The Role Is Holy (Even if the Man Isn’t Perfect)
Fr. Simon goes on to say:
-We call the Pope Holy Father not because he’s always a saint personally… but because his role is holy.
“We respect the office, even if the man in it, like me, is not that respectable.” – Fr. Simon (love that honesty)
💬 Bottom Line:
We call the Pope “Holy Father” because:
-He’s a spiritual father to the Diocese of Rome and to the whole Church.
-His office is sacred, even if he’s still a human being like the rest of us.
-And yes, it’s biblical… just ask St. Paul.
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