CALLING A POPE "HOLY FATHER" IS BLASPHEMY

By Lawrence Sunday Ogwang

The teachings and the practices of the Catholic Church have always remained incomprehensible to many people both within and outside the church. Among the many things not understood is why the Catholic Church calls the pope Holy Father.

A fellow student addressed this question to my face: Fr. Lawrence, I sometimes laugh at the way you Catholics make a fool of yourselves. In fact I am tempted to think that ‘you’ (the so called Catholics) read the Bible upside down. At this statement, I could not wait for her to finish the statement. I inquiringly interrupted by asking what she means by Catholics reading the Bible upside down, ‘do you mean reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation or Revelation to Genesis?’ I asked!

 At this question, she began fumbling with words, opening her mouth vaguely as she struggled to say aahh! No, I don’t mean that. So what do you mean? I queried. She loosely answered “I mean the way you do certain things”. Pushing her against her words, I pleaded for her clarity because ‘certain things’ as she alleged, is quite ambiguous and confusing. But when I realized that she in not saying something sensible, I asked her to give an example of what Catholics do that she thinks is not right.

 She began by saying: you know what! I don’t like the way you people treat the pope. It’s like you give more respect to the Pope than to God. It is even worst when you call him Holy Father. I asked her “what is wrong with calling the pope Holy Father?” she emphatically retorted by saying; According to the Bible, only God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit merit the name Holy. Yet on innumerable occasions Catholics refer to the pope as the "Holy Father” which of course is blasphemy. Kindly provide a theological explanation for this unbecoming practice of yours.

The expression on her face was that of authority and command as if by mere asking she had already won the just beginning argument and she was determined to lead the young cleric to confusion. At this, I held my breath for a while; in fact you could have heard a pin drop as I suspended my head ransacking my mind trying to find out what to answer my desperate sister.

When I finally got my point of departure, I told her; thanks my sister for the bravery you have taken to ask this question other than choosing to go your way with a lot of blames on your lips. Many people walk away blaming the Catholic Church on many things simply because, they don`t bother to ask from people who know and would help them a lot.

 Now, listen my sister! Only God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit merit the name holy by their very essence; however, a person, place, or a thing associated with God, is also called holy. To be called holy is to express the idea of consecration that someone or something belongs to God. That is why the Bible calls many people, places and things holy.

For example, in Ex 3:5, the place God appears is holy. In Exodus 19:6, God tells the Israelite through Moses, "and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." God’s dwelling place in the Tabernacle is holy (Ex 28:43), as is the city of Jerusalem (Is 48:2).

Even a goat, the victim of sacrifice to God, is called holy in Leviticus 10:17.

After Christ’s death and resurrection the Christians called themselves and each other "holy ones" or "saints," called by God to be his (Rom 1:6-7). In 1 Peter 1:16, we read, "It is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’"

Since we are his holy people, and his people are the Church, it is fitting that the head of his holy people be called Holy Father—not because of his own merit, but because Christ died for him and for the Church that he leads on earth. And also because of his consecration to the service of God.

After all my explanation, the expression on my sisters face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little girl who had just been caught with her hand in a simsim paste jar as she suspended her head in embarrassment.

Dear friends, I hope this explanation will also help you if you had the same issue puzzling your mind and always remember, the words of Scripture is never like a frog`s spittle on the lake.

God Bless you all “His holy ones”.

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