Is the Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon? Part 1 of 5

It's one of the most common ideas among Fundamentalists, that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon (Revelation 17-18) and the Pope is the Antichrist. The "arguments" and "evidence" used in support of such an idea is often ridiculous and usually asinine. Nevertheless, Catholics need to be aware of what is being said and why it is, in fact, ridiculous.






     A Few Things That Must Be Understood

Firstly- the word "antichrist" is only found FOUR times in the Bible, and NEVER in Revelation.

1 John 2:18 "Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour."

1 John 2:22 "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son."

1 John 4:3 "...and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already."

2 John 1:7 "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist."


Secondly- these verses refer to more than one antichrist, and that these antichrists are both going to exist in the future and currently exists in the present. This means that the antichrist is not one particular person that will come and be the child of Satan or whatever. Instead, antichrist is more of a characteristic describing a type of person.

Thirdly- the definition of the antichrist DOES NOT match that of the Pope, namely one "who denies the Father and the Son" and who "denies that Jesus is the Christ" (1 John 2:22).


     Does This Definition Match the Pope?

"The answer is very simple: God... He [Jesus] has brought God, and now we know His face, now we can call upon Him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope, and love." (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth)

This is just one of many instances of Pope Benedict XVI speaking of Jesus Christ and Jesus as Christ. By definition, therefore, the Pope cannot be the/an antichrist. The Pope does, in fact, recognize the Father and the Son, and he does confess that Jesus is the Christ and of God.

This is an example of what I call "Everybody Scripture." Everybody Scripture is something that "everybody" knows that Scripture says when, in fact, it doesn't. In this case, "everybody" knows that Scripture talks about the antichrist as the harbinger of Satan. Among Fundamentalists, at least, "everybody" knows that the description of the antichrist refers to the Pope.


     What Does This Mean?

Hopefully, this clears up some misunderstandings right off the bat. The antichrist does not refer to a single person who is the harbinger of Satan, at least as evidenced by Scripture. Instead, the antichrist is anyone who denies Jesus is Christ and His Divinity.

While Fundamentalists claim to believe in sola scriptura, they obviously don't on this point. Those that assign the Popes the title Antichrist are acting in contradiction with the clear Scriptural definition and idea. They are either 1) Ignorant of the views and beliefs of the Popes, 2) Ignorant of Scripture, or 3) Choosing to straight-out throw Scripture out the window.

In the next post, we'll look at 4 commonly cited Bible verses that are used to (incorrectly) assign the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V