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→Used by the pope of the Roman Catholic Church
== Used by the pope of the Roman Catholic Church ==
The origin of the Roman Catholic title, according to a catholiceducation.org [http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0038.html article] by Jean-Claude Perisset, was "born" during the [Investiture Controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_ControversyInvestiture Controversy].
<blockquote>The qualifier “holy” underlines the spiritual dimension of this fatherhood exercised in the name of God; and we have already said that it does not imply a moral judgment on the person of the Pope. The expression “Holy Father” was born in the time of the controversy over lay investiture, and it seemed normal that in its becoming common usage in the acts of the chancery, the Roman Curia had then wished to underscore the spiritual and supernatural level of the mission of the Pope by adding the adjective “holy” — to defend implicitly the superiority of papal power over imperial power.</blockquote>
