Why do Catholics call priests Father?

The claim

“Call no man father. Jesus said it himself.”

“Why do you call your priests Father when the Bible says not to?”

Why people believe it

Matthew 23:9 is easy to find, and it is blunt. It reads like a ban, and a Catholic church full of people saying “Father” looks like a plain contradiction of it. People who ask this are often reading the verse the way it sounds, and that is a fair way to read it.

What the Church teaches

The Church does not claim the verse is empty. It reads it in its setting, and it points out that the New Testament uses the word for people in the Church.

Scripture

The verse comes in a passage about pride. Jesus criticizes scribes who love seats of honor and titles, and he says to the crowd that they should not take such titles for themselves, because there is one teacher and one father.

The same New Testament uses the word freely. Paul tells the Corinthians that he became their father in Christ through the Gospel (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). John addresses the “fathers” in his letter (1 John 2:13-14). Stephen opens his speech with “brethren and fathers” (Acts 7:2), and Paul calls Abraham the father of us all (Romans 4:16-17).

Catholics conclude that Matthew 23:9 cannot be a rule against the word itself. The question then is what the verse forbids, and the answer most readers give is the same one the passage gives: claiming the place that belongs to God, or loving the honor more than the work.

Magisterium

There is no definition on this. The Church teaches that the priest serves in the person of Christ (CCC 1548-1551), and calling him Father follows from the way many cultures speak about a pastor. In other places and times the title has been different.

Historical record

In the early centuries bishops were called “father” and the title “pope” comes from the same word, papa. Monks gave the title abba, the Aramaic word for father, to their spiritual leaders. Many Protestant traditions use related words as titles, such as “pastor” (shepherd), “reverend,” and “doctor.” Some of those carry the same risk the passage warns about.

The strongest remaining objection

A thoughtful Evangelical might put it this way.

Jesus did not say “do not use the word father as a figure of speech.” He said not to call anyone father in a religious sense, and in the same breath he also said not to be called rabbi or master. A title that sets one person above the others in a church is exactly what Matthew 23 warns about. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians describe what he did, not a title he demanded. “Holy Father” for the pope goes further than “Father” for a parish priest.

That is a serious point. Catholics can agree that titles can feed pride, and that the custom is not commanded by Scripture. They answer that the New Testament itself uses the word for human leaders, so the verse cannot mean what the strictest reading says. Where people still differ is on the weight of tradition. If a custom is not commanded and could be misused, should the Church keep it? Catholics generally say yes, and many Protestants say no.