Why do Catholics call priests "Father" if Jesus said to call no one father?
The short answer
Jesus' words "call no one your father on earth" (Matthew 23:9) are a warning against pride and against letting any human take the place that belongs to God — not a literal ban on the word "father." We know this because Scripture itself, including Paul, freely calls people "father" in a spiritual sense, and because Jesus would otherwise be forbidding us to call our own dads "father." Catholics call priests "Father" because they exercise a genuine spiritual fatherhood that comes from God, the source of all fatherhood.
Full explanation
This objection rests on reading a single verse on its own and very literally. So the key is to set it back alongside how the rest of the Bible uses the same word, and to read Jesus' words in context.
In Matthew 23, Jesus is blasting the religious leaders for pride: they love titles, the best seats, and being honoured; they "do all their deeds to be seen." Right there he says don't be called "rabbi," don't call anyone "father," don't be called "teacher/instructor." Now notice: if this is a flat ban on words, then we'd also have to stop using "teacher" entirely — including for Jesus himself, who is called Teacher constantly, and we'd have to throw out the word for anyone who instructs. Obviously that's not what's meant. Jesus is using vivid, exaggerated language (a common Jewish teaching style) to make a point about the heart: don't usurp the honour, authority, and ultimate fatherhood that belong to God alone. Don't let titles feed your ego or make you a substitute for God.
How do we know that's the right reading? Because the New Testament itself uses "father" for human spiritual mentors without blinking — and if Scripture doesn't contradict itself, Jesus can't have meant a literal ban. Paul calls himself the spiritual father of the Corinthians: "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel." He calls Timothy his "child," and treats the Thessalonians as a father treats his children. Stephen and Paul address their elders as "fathers." The early Christians had no problem with it. They understood that earthly fatherhood — whether of a dad, a mentor, or a spiritual guide — is real precisely because it reflects God's fatherhood, not competes with it. As Paul says, every "family" (literally, every fatherhood) in heaven and on earth takes its name from God the Father.
So calling a priest "Father" isn't claiming he replaces God any more than calling your own dad "father" does. It recognises that a good priest is meant to do for a parish what a father does for a family: beget new life (through baptism), feed, guide, protect, forgive, and lay down his life in love. The title is a calling and a challenge to him, not a theft from God.
Why this matters
This question is a small but useful lesson in how to read the Bible: pulling a single verse out of its context and reading it woodenly can make Scripture contradict itself, while reading it in context — and alongside the rest of the Bible — lets it make sense. It also reframes what spiritual fatherhood is for. The point isn't a title; it's the self-giving care the title is supposed to demand.
Myth Common misunderstanding
The misunderstanding is treating Matthew 23:9 as a literal prohibition of a word, while not applying the same literalism to "teacher" in the very same passage — or to calling one's own father "father." Read consistently and in context, Jesus is condemning pride and the usurping of God's place, not the ordinary, biblical use of "father" for those who genuinely father us in faith.
Scripture connections
- Matthew 23:9 — the verse itself, set within Jesus' rebuke of prideful, title-loving leaders.
- 1 Corinthians 4:14-15 — Paul: "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel," using exactly the title in question.
- Ephesians 3:14-15 — every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named from God the Father, the source human fatherhood reflects.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:11 — Paul dealt with them "like a father with his children."
- Acts 7:2 — Stephen addresses the elders as "brothers and fathers," normal respectful usage.
Church teaching references
Reflect
Where might you, like the leaders Jesus criticised, be more attached to recognition and titles than to the humble service they're supposed to stand for?