*The Pope of The Palmarian Catholic Church (in Spain)<ref>[http://www.traditionalcatholic.info/palmarian-church/ Palmarian Church (traditionalcatholic.info)]</ref>
=="Father" Matthew 23:9 [[exegesis]]==
The Lord Jesus Christ said, "'''Call no man on the earth your father'''" Matthew 23:9.
Jesus did not say, "''Call no man on earth, 'father' ''". See the [http://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/23-9.htm interlinear English and Greek text] and [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/23-9.htm ''multiple commentaries on'' Matthew 23:9]. Jesus does not say, "Do not be '''called''' fathers". In verse 10, he says, "''Neither be '''called''' masters''".
The meaning of this text is that no male parent is to be regarded as the true father of any son or daughter naturally sired by him as middle eastern cultural tradition taught each child to regard him—with absolute claim to their personal loyalty and obedience, above and apart from any other consideration of affection, respect, duty and reverence they might owe to another, to mother or sibling or spouse or children or friend or comrade-in-arms or teacher or commander or king or country, or even life itself. Students who came to regard their teachers and rabbis with reverent affection and loyalty, even awe, for imparting the knowledge of Torah to them, were traditionally encouraged to address them as "my father" and to regard them as their spiritual fathers. Jesus is setting them free of the tradition of unquestioning imitation of those abusers of legitimate Jewish authority who set aside the substance of the teaching of Moses and the scriptures for the sake of their own self-promoting customs and ritual traditions.
This text in Matthew has been cited as condemning any use of the word "father" as an address or title of respect to any man, as if it said, "''Call no man on earth, 'father'...''". However, against this defective reading of the meaning of the text, and apart from the fact that a word has been ''removed'' by such a reading (interpretation) of the text, multiple passages in sacred scripture itself demonstrate that the apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ themselves addressed others as "''father''" and were called "''father''".
St. Paul told the Corinthians that though they had many guides, he was their father through the gospel, and he also said he was a father to Timothy. There is a substantial difference in saying "my father" and simply saying "Father". For example, no Catholic says to a priest, "my father, ... ", but says instead, "Father", as a title of respect. In the same way, for example, [[Stephen|St. Stephen]] addressed the high priest and members of the council as fathers, and John explicitly addresses the fathers of the Christian community as "fathers". See Acts 7:2, 22:1; 1 John 2:12-14; 1 Corinthians 4:14-15; Philippians 2:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:11; Hebrews 13:17.
Most translations of Matthew 23:9 faithfully say "''your father''"; others explicitly omit the word '''ὑμῶν''' "''your''" in translation as an anti-Catholic reading which has no grammatical basis and cannot be justified according to the New Testament Greek text of Matthew 23:9
::9 καὶ πατέρα μὴ καλέσητε ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ '''ὑμῶν''', ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.
Omitting to include in translation a word that is present in every extant manuscript of this verse in Matthew is a deliberate act involving substantial alteration of the meaning of the scriptural text, an act which every Bible-believing Christian condemns. <br>See Jeremiah 8:8 and Revelation 22:18.
Here is a list of some of the more widely published and distributed translations which exclude the word "your" in Matthew 23:9, among their other violations of the Bible:
:*NIV New International Version
:*NLT New Living Translation
:*ISV International Standard Version
:*ABE Aramaic Bible in English
==Supreme Pontiff==