There is a difference between 'authority' and 'power'.
Today's question is: Who had the authority to reject the very words of Jesus when He stated:
Rather, that of adopting "father" as a formal title. For "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven (Matthew 23:9) cannot be understood without clarification. First, it can hardly be reasonably prohibiting calling earthy fathers by that title, nor forbidding one as referring to himself as a spiritual father, as Paul does, and which thus implicitly would allow a Onesimus to call him that.
However, that simply does not warrant adopting that as a formal title to be used by everyone, and in reality Catholic priests are not spiritual fathers due to them baptizing their subjects (which would be the main reason given for calling them that), since the act of baptism itself does not effect regeneration, but which requires repentant faith. (Acts 2:38; 10:43-47; 25:7-9)
But if you want to refute error, it is better to start with a clearer case of it, from the Catholic priesthood itself to praying to created beings in Heaven to transubstantiation .