Matthew 23:9

9. Call no man your father Here again we should obviously fall into absurdity by a bare verbal and literal mode of interpretation. Has not the child a right to call his own parent father? Our Lord does not condemn the greetings and appellations which express the cordial, affectionate, and respectful feelings of life. This is the reverse of the Gospel spirit. But under the symbol of the names father, master, and rabbi, he does forbid that submission to men which stands in the way of our submission to our father God, or master Christ, and our Rabbi, the Holy Spirit in his word and influences.

The word pope signifies father. If ever in the history of men the title father has been assumed in express transgression of Christ’s command, it is in his case. Never has the title been used to cover a more despotic or illegitimate authority, or to produce a more abject surrender of body and soul into the hands of ravenous and remorseless men. Yet even in this case the guilt is not in the title but in the spiritual despotism the title expresses.