Wait, what?
Let’s ignore the priest bit for a moment... It is kind of a weird passage if you consider that we all have parents.
LOL. I agree. What?????
Not difficult at all to understand.
People have been arguing against calling priests father for centuries now in the Protestant Revolution and this Cardinal is just now figuring this out?
It is difficult to understand. In the same passage Jesus said not to call people “teacher” too. Of course we still call our biological fathers “father,” (and teachers “teacher”) so Jesus must of been getting at using honorifics. Like the PhD who insists on always being called “Dr.” In the church we need to not elevate leaders too much.
As someone said above—it’s the insecure who insist on such honorifics/trappings.
You're right, of course.
There can be no doubt about what Jesus meant by that: Call no one - not even your own biological father - "father."
All quite clear, isn't it?
Regards,
Jesus was talking to the Jewish people about their customs. Read the whole discourse.
This has been hashed and rehashed here for decades. I would simply call your attention to this one example from the New Testament for the fatherhood of the priesthood:
"I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:14–15)
There are others...