"But some Popes were so bad..."
Yesterday's Gospel reading was Matthew 23:1-12. The reading begins:
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
This is the proper response when people ask how Catholics can have so much faith in the Papacy when so many bad men have sat on the Chair of St. Peter. So many bad men sat in the Chair of Moses, but the Jews were still obliged to obey them, according to this part of the Gospel. Jesus said this even as He knew they would soon plot to kill Him. We obey these men by virtue of the position they hold, not on account of their personal goodness.
In fact, the vanity and corruption of so many of those Popes is an argument in favor of the Papacy. If these awful men still taught the truth of the Faith, not changing doctrine and not destroying the Church from within, isn't that a strong indications that what the we believe about the Church is true? That it is the one true Church founded by Christ and protected and guided by the Holy Spirit?
You'll notice later in the same reading, this line:
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
This is often used against Catholics as well. After all, we address our priests as "Father." Here's a good response to that criticism, showing how elsewhere in the Bible the Apostles refer to themselves as spiritual fathers to Christians. And that's where Catholics draw their tradition of referring to priests as Father; they are our spiritual fathers. So what did Jesus mean? I'll just quote from the article linked above:
Jesus criticized Jewish leaders who love "the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called ‘rabbi’ by men" (Matt. 23:6–7). His admonition here is a response to the Pharisees’ proud hearts and their grasping after marks of status and prestige.He was using hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point) to show the scribes and Pharisees how sinful and proud they were for not looking humbly to God as the source of all authority and fatherhood and teaching, and instead setting themselves up as the ultimate authorities, father figures, and teachers.
Even though we Catholics refer to our priests as Father, we always must keep in mind that they are no the source of their teaching, but rather Our Father in Heaven is.