Who is the
Woman Who Rides The Beast
in Revelation 17?
Virtually all attention these days is focused on the coming Antichrist but he
is only half the story. Many are amazed to discover in Revelation 17 that there
is also another mysterious character in the heart of prophecy a woman
who rides the beast." Dave Hunt
The Bible says she is a city and gives remarkable clues to her
identity. Reproduced here by permission is one chapter of one
of the greatest books of our time on Bible prophecy, "A Woman
Rides The Beast" by prophecy researcher Dave Hunt.
A woman rides the beast, and that woman is a city built on seven hills that reigns
over the kings of the earth! Was ever in all of history such a statement made?
John immediately equates the readers' acceptance of this revelation with "wisdom."
We dare not pass over such a disclosure casually. It merits our careful and
prayerful attention.
Here is no mystical or allegorical language but an
unambiguous statement in plain words: "The woman ... is that great city."
There is no justification for seeking some other hidden meaning. Yet books
have been written and sermons preached insisting that "Mystery Babylon" is the
United States. That is clearly not the case, for the United States is a
country, not a city. One might justifiably refer to the United States as Sodom,
considering the honor now given to homosexuals, but it is definitely not the
Babylon that John sees in this vision. The woman is a city.
Furthermore, she is a city built on seven hills. That specification
eliminates ancient Babylon. Only one city has for more than 2000 years been known
as the city on seven hills. That city is Rome. The Catholic Encyclopedia
states: "It is within the city of Rome, called the city of seven hills, that
the entire area of Vatican State proper is now confined."1
There are, of course, other cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, that were also
built on seven hills. Therefore, John provides at least seven more characteristics
to limit the identification to Rome alone. We will examine each one in detail
in subsequent chapters. However, as a preview of where we are going, we
will list them now and discuss each one briefly. As we shall see, there is
only one city on the earth which, in both historical and contemporary
perspectives, passes every test John gives, including its identification
as Mystery Babylon. That city is Rome, and more specifically, Vatican City.
Even Catholic apologist Karl Keating admits that Rome has long been known
as Babylon. Keating claims that Peter's statement "The church here in
Babylon ... sends you her greeting" (from I Peter 5:13) proves that Peter was
writing from Rome. He explains further:
"Babylon is a code word for Rome. It is used that way six times in the
last book of the Bible [four of the six are in chapters 17 and 18 and in
extrabiblical works such as Sibylling Oracles (5, 159f.), the Apocalypse of
Baruch (ii, 1), and 4 Esdras (3:1).
Eusebius Pamphilius, writing about 303, noted that "it is said that Peter's
first epistle... was composed at Rome itself; and that he himself indicates
this, referring to the city figuratively as Babylon."2
As for "Mystery," that name imprinted on the woman's forehead is the perfect
designation for Vatican City. Mystery is at the very heart of Roman Catholicism,
from the words "Mysterium fide" pronounced at the alleged transformation of the
bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ to the enigmatic
apparitions of Mary around the world. Every sacrament, from baptism to
extreme unction, manifests the mysterious power which the faithful must believe the
priests wield, but for which there is no visible evidence. Rome's new Catechism
explains that liturgy "aims to initiate souls into the mystery of Christ
(It is 'mystagogy.')" and that all of the Church's liturgy is "mystery."3
Who Is the Whore?
The first thing we are told about the woman is that she is a "whore" (Revelation
17:1), that earthly kings "have committed fornication" with her (verse 2), and
that "all the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of
her fornication" (verse 3). Why would a city be called a whore and be accused of
having committed fornication with kings? Such an indictment would never be made
of London or Moscow or Parisor any other ordinary city. It wouldn't make sense.
Fornication and adultery are used in the Bible in both the physical and the
spiritual sense. Of Jerusalem God said, "How is the faithful city become
a harlot!" (Isaiah 1:21). Israel, whom God had set apart from all other peoples
to be holy for His purposes, had entered into unholy, adulterous alliances with
the idol-worshiping nations about her. She had "committed adultery with stones
and with stocks [idols]" (Jeremiah 3:9); "and with their idols have they committed
adultery" (Ezekiel 23:37). The entire chapter of Ezekiel 16 explains lsrael's
spiritual adultery in detail, both with heathen nations and with their false
gods, as do many other passages.
There is no way that a city could engage in literal, fleshly fornication. Thus we
can only conclude that John, like the prophets in the Old Testament, is using the
term in its spiritual sense. The city, therefore, must claim a spiritual
relationship with God. Otherwise such an allegation would be meaningless.
Though it is built on seven hills, there would be no reason to accuse Rio de
Janeiro of spiritual fornication. It makes no claim of having a special
relationship with God. And though Jerusalem has that relationship, it cannot
be the woman riding on the beast, for it is not built on seven hills. Nor
does it meet the other criteria by which this woman is to be identified.
Against only one other city in history could a charge of fornication be
leveled. That city is Rome, and more specifically Vatican City. She claims to
have been the worldwide headquarters of Christianity since its beginning and
maintains that claim to this day. Her pope enthroned in Rome claims to be the
exclusive representative of God, the vicar of Christ. Rome is the headquarters
of the Roman Catholic Church, and in that too she is unique.
Numerous churches, of course, are headquartered in cities, but only one city is the
headquarters of a church. The Mormon Church, for example, is headquartered in
Salt Lake City, but there is much more to Salt Lake City than the Mormon Church.
Not so with Vatican City. It is the heartbeat of the Roman Catholic Church and
nothing else. She is a spiritual entity that could very well be accused of
spiritual fornication if she did not remain true to Christ.
In Bed with the Rulers
Not only does Rome's pope call himself the vicar of Christ, but the Church he heads
claims to be the one true Church and the bride of Christ. Christ's bride, whose
hope is to join her Bridegroom in heaven, is to have no earthly ambitions. Yet the
Vatican is obsessed with earthly enterprise, as history proves; and in furtherance
of these goals it has been, exactly as John foresaw in his vision, engaged in
adulterous relationships with the kings of the earth. That fact is acknowledged
even by Catholic historians.
Christ said to His disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his
own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). The Catholic Church, however, is
very much of this world. Her popes have built an unrivaled worldwide empire of
property, wealth, and influence. Nor is empire-building an abandoned feature of
the past. We have already seen that Vatican II clearly states that the Roman
Catholic Church today still ceaselessly seeks to bring under its control all
mankind and all their goods.
Popes have long claimed dominion over the world and its peoples. Pope
Gregory XIs papal bull of 1372 (In Coena Domini) claimed papal dominion over
the entire Christian world, secular and religious, and excommunicated all who
failed to obey the popes and to pay them taxes. In Coena was confirmed by
subsequent popes and in 1568 Pope Pius V swore that it was to remain an eternal
law.
Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) claimed that all undiscovered lands belonged to
the Roman Pontiff, for him to dispose of as he pleased in the name of Christ as
His vicar. King John II of Portugal was convinced that in his Bull Romanus
Pontifex the pope had granted all that Columbus discovered exclusively to him and
his country. Ferdinand and Isabel of Spain, however, thought the pope had
given the same lands to them. In May 1493 the Spanish-born Alexander VI issued
three bulls to settle the dispute.
In the name of Christ, who had no place on this earth that He called his own,
this incredibly evil Borgia pope, claiming to own the world, drew a north-south
line down the global map of that day, giving everything on the east to Portugal
and on the west to Spain. Thus by papal grant, "out of the plenitude of
apostolic power," Africa went to Portugal and the Americas to Spain. When
Portugal "succeeded in reaching India and Malaya, they secured the confirmation
of these discoveries from the Papacy..." There was a condition, of course:
"to the intent to bring the inhabitants ... to profess the Catholic Faith."4
It Was largely Central and South America which, as a consequence of this unholy
alliance between church and state, had Roman Catholicism forced upon them by the
sword and remain Catholic to this day. North America (with the exception of
Quebec and Louisiana) was spared the dominance of Roman Catholicism because it
was settled largely by Protestants.
Nor have the descendants of Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas forgotten that Roman Catholic
priests, backed by the secular sword, gave their ancestors the choice of
conversion (which often meant slavery) or death. They made such an outcry when
John Paul II in a recent visit to Latin America proposed elevating Junipero
Serra (a major eighteenth-century enforcer of Catholicism among the Indians)
to sainthood that the pope was forced to hold the ceremony in secret.
Christ said, "My kingdom is not of this world; otherwise my servants would
fight." The popes, however, have fought with armies and navies in the name of
Christ to build a huge kingdom which is very much of this world. And to amass
their earthly empire they have repeatedly engaged in spiritual fornication with
emperors, kings, and princes. Claiming to be the bride of Christ, the Roman
Catholic Church has been in bed with godless rulers down through history, and
these adulterous relationships continue to this day. This spiritual fornication
will be documented in detail later.
Rome Equals Vatican
Some may object that it is Rome, and not that small part of it known as
Vatican City, which is built on seven hills, and that the Vatican can hardly be
called a "great city." Though both objections are true, the words "Vatican" and
"Rome" are universally used interchangeably. Just as one would refer to Washington
and mean the government that runs the United States, so one refers to Rome and
means the hierarchy that rules the Roman Catholic Church.
Take for example a placard carried by a demonstrator outside the November 15-18, 1993,
meeting in Washington D.C. of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Protesting any deviation from the pope's wishes, it read: "ROME'S WAY OR THE
HIGHWAY."5 0bviously by "Rome" it meant the Vatican. Such is the common
usage, So closely are Catholicism and Rome linked that the Catholic Church is
known as the Roman Catholic Church, or simply the Roman Church.
Moreover, for more than a thousand years the Roman Catholic Church exercised
both religious and civil control over the entire city of Rome and its
surroundings. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) abolished the secular Roman
Senate and placed the administration of Rome directly under his command. The Roman
Senate that had governed the city under the Caesars had been known as the Curia
Romana (Roman Curia). That name, according to the Pocket Catholic Dictionary, is
now the designation of "the whole ensemble of administrative and judicial offices
through which the Pope directs the operations of the Catholic Church.6
The popes' authority even extended to large territories outside Rome acquired in
the eighth century. At that time, with the help of a deliberately fraudulent
document manufactured for the popes known as The Donation of Constantine,
Pope Stephen III convinced Pepin, king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne,
that territories recently taken by the Lombards from the Byzantines actually had
been given to the papacy by the Emperor Constantine. Pepin routed the Lombards
and handed to the pope the keys to some 20 cities (Ravenna, Ancona, Bologna,
Ferrara, lesi, Gubbio, etc.) and the huge chunk of land joining them along
the Adriatic coast.
Dated 30 March 315, The Donation declared that Constantine had given these
lands, along with Rome and the Lateran Palace, to the popes in perpetuity. In
1440 this document was proven to be a forgery by Lorenzo Valla, a papal aide, and
is so recognized by historians today. Yet allegedly infallible popes continued
for centuries to assert that The Donation was genuine and on that basis to justify
their pomp, power, and possessions. That fraud is still perpetuated by an
inscription in the baptistry of Rome's St. John Lateran, which has never been
corrected.
Thus the Papal States were literally stolen by the popes from their rightful
owners. The papacy controlled and taxed these territories and derived great wealth
from them until 1848. At that time the pope, along with the rulers of most of
the other divided territories of Italy, was forced to grant his rebellious
subjects a constitution. In September 1860, over his raging protests, Pius
IX lost all of the papal states to the new, finally united Kingdom of Italy,
which left him, at the time of the First Vatican Council in 1870, still in
control of Rome and its surroundings.
The point is that, exactly as John foresaw in his vision, a spiritual entity
that claimed a special relationship with Christ and with God became identified
with a city that was built on seven hills. That "woman" committed spiritual
fornication with earthly rulers and eventually reigned over them. The Roman
Catholic Church has been continuously identified with that city. As "The most
definitive Catholic encyclopedia since Vatican II" declares:
...hence, one understands the central place of Rome in the life of the Church
today and the significance of the title, Roman Catholic Church, the Church that
is universal, yet focused upon the ministry of the Bishop of Rome.
Since the founding of the Church there by St. Peter, Rome has been the center of
all Christendom.7
Wealth from III-Gotten Gain
The incredible wealth of this woman caught John's attention
next. She was dressed "in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication" (Revelation 17:4). The colors of purple and
scarlet once again identify the woman with both pagan and Christian Rome. These
were the colors of the Roman caesars with which the soldiers mockingly robed
Christ as "King" (see Matthew 27:28 and John 19:2,5), which the Vatican
took to itself. The woman's colors are literally still the colors of the Catholic
clergy! The same Catholic Encyclopedia quoted above states:
Capps Magna
A cloak with a long train and a hooded shoulder cape ... [it]
was purple wool for bishops; for cardinals, it was scarlet watered silk
(for Advent, Lent, Good Friday, and the conclave, purple wool); and rose watered
silk for Gaudete and Lactate Sundays; and for the pope, it was red velvet
for Christmas Matins, red serge at other times.
Cassock (also Soutane) The close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by the Catholic clergy as their
official garb.... The color for bishops and other prelates is purple, for
cardinals scarlet .... 8
The "golden cup [chalice] in her hand" again identifies the woman with the Roman
Catholic Church. Broderick's edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia declares of
the chalice: "[It is] the most important of the sacred vessels.... [It] may be
of gold or silver, and if the latter, then the inside must be surfaced with
gold."9 The Roman Catholic Church possesses many thousands of solid
gold chalices kept in its churches around the world. Even the bloodstained
cross of Christ has been turned to gold and studded with gems in reflection
of Rome's great wealth. The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "The pectoral
cross [suspended by a chain around the neck and worn over the breast by
abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope] should be made of gold
and ... decorated with gems ...10
Rome has practiced evil to gather her wealth, for the "golden cup" is filled
with "abominations and filthiness." Much of the wealth of the Roman Catholic
Church was acquired through the confiscation of the property of the pitiful victims
of the Inquisitions. Even the dead were exhumed to face trial and property was
taken from their heirs by the Church. One historian writes:
The punishments of the lnquisition did not cease when the victim was burned
to ashes, or immured for life in the Inquisition dungeons. His relatives
were reduced to beggary by the law that all his possessions were forfeited.
The system offered unlimited opportunities for loot....
This source of gain largely accounts for the revolting practice of what
has been called "corpse-trials."...
That the practice of confiscating the
property of condemned heretics was productive of many acts of extortion,
rapacity and corruption will be doubted by no one who has any knowledge either of
human nature or of the historical documents.... no man was safe whose wealth
might arouse cupidity, or whose independence might provoke revenge. 11
Most of Rome's wealth has been acquired through the sale of
salvation. Untold billions of dollars have been paid to her by those who
thought they were purchasing heaven on the installment plan for themselves or
loved ones. The practice continues to this day blatantly where Catholicism is
in control, less obviously here in the United States. No greater deception or
abomination could be perpetrated. When Cardinal Cajetan, sixteenth-century
Dominican scholar, complained about the sale of dispensations and indulgences,
the Church hierarchy was indignant and accused him of wanting "to turn Rome
into an uninhabited desert, to reduce the Papacy to impotence, to deprive the
pope... of the pecuniary resources indispensable for the discharge of his
office." 12
In addition to such perversions of the gospel which have led hundreds of millions
astray, there are the further abominations of corrupt banking practices,
laundering of drug money, trading in counterfeit securities, and dealings
with the Mafia (fully documented in police and court records), which the Vatican
and her representatives around the world have long employed. Nino Lo
Bello, former Business Week correspondent in Rome and Rome bureau chief for
New York Journal of Commerce, writes that the Vatican is so closely allied
with the Mafia in Italy that "many people ... believe that Sicily ... is
nothing more than a Vatican holding." 13
The Roman Catholic Church is by far the wealthiest institution on earth.
Yes, one hears from Rome periodic pleas for money-persuasive appeals claiming
that the Vatican cannot maintain itself on its limited budget and needs
monetary assistance. Such pleas are unconscionable ploys. The value of
innumerable sculptures by such masters as Michelangelo, paintings by the
world's greatest artists, and countless other art treasures and ancient
documents which Rome possesses (not only at the Vatican but in cathedrals around
the world) is beyond calculation. At the World Synod of Bishops in Rome, England's
Cardinal Heenan proposed that the Church sell some of these superfluous
treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. His suggestion was not well-received.
Christ and His disciples lived in poverty. He told His followers not to lay up
treasure on this earth but in heaven. The Roman Catholic Church has disobeyed
that command and has accumulated a plethora of riches without equal, of
which "the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward.... 14
There is no church, no city which is a spiritual entity, no religious
institution past or present which even comes close to possessing the wealth of
the Roman Catholic Church. A recent newspaper article described only a fraction
of that treasure at one location:
The fabulous treasure of Lourdes (France], whose existence was kept secret by the
Catholic Church for 120 years, has been unveiled.... Rumours have been
circulating for decades about a priceless collection of gold chalices, diamond-studded
crucifixes [a far cry from the bloodstained cross on which Christ died], silver
and precious stones donated by grateful pilgrims.
After an indiscreet remark by their press spokesman this week, church authorities
agreed to reveal part of the collection ... [some] floor-to-ceiling cases were
opened to reveal 59 solid gold chalices alongside rings, crucifixes, statues and
heavy gold brooches, many encrusted with precious stones. Almost hidden by the other treasures is the "Crown" of Notre Dame de Lourdes, made
by a Paris goldsmith in 1876 and studded with diamonds.
Church authorities say they cannot put a value on the collection. "I have no
idea," says Father Pierre-Marie Charriez, director of Patrimony and
Sanctuaries. "it is of inestimable value."...
Across the road is a building housing hundreds of [antique] ecclesiastical
garments, robes, mitres and sashes many in heavy gold thread....
"The Church itself is poor," insists Father Charriez. "The Vatican itself
is poor." 15 [The treasure described here is only part of that which
is kept in one location, the small town of Lourdes, France!]
The Mother of Harlots and Abominations
The more deeply one probes into the history of the Roman Catholic Church and
its current practices, the more impressed one becomes with the amazing accuracy
of the vision John received centuries before it would all be lamentable reality.
John's attention is drawn to the inscription boldly emblazoned upon the woman's
forehead: "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH" (Revelation 17:5). Sadly enough, the Roman Catholic Church fits the
description "mother of harlots and abominations" as precisely as she fits the
others. Much of the cause can be traced to the unbiblical demand that her priests
be celibates.
The great apostle Paul was a celibate and recommended that life to others who
wanted to devote themselves fully to serving Christ. He did not, however, make
it a condition for church leadership as the Catholic Church has done, thereby
imposing an unnatural burden upon all clergy that very few could bear. On the
contrary, he wrote that a bishop should be "the husband of one wife" (I Timothy 3:2)
and set the same requirement for elders (Titus 1:5,6).
Peter, whom the Catholics erroneously claim was the first pope, was married. So
were at least some of the other apostles. This fact was not the chance result of
their having been married before Christ
called them, but it was accepted as an ongoing norm. Paul himself argued that
he had the right to marry like the rest: "Have we not power [Greek exousia, the
right or privilege or authority] to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other
apostles and as the brethren [half-brothers, sons of Mary and Joseph] of the
Lord, and as Cephas [Peter]?" (I Corinthians 9:5).
The Roman Catholic Church, however, has insisted upon celibacy even though
many Popes, among them Sergius III (904-11), John X (914-28), John
XII (955-63), Benedict V (964), Innocent VIII (1484-92), Urban VIII (1623-44), and
Innocent X (1644-55), as well as millions of cardinals, bishops, archbishops,
monks, and priests throughout history, have repeatedly violated such vows. Not
only has celibacy made sinners of the clergy who engage in fornication, but it
makes harlots out of those with whom they secretly cohabit. Rome is indeed "the
mother of harlots"! Her identification as such is unmistakable. No other
city, church, or institution in the history of the world is her rival in this
particular evil.
History is replete with sayings that mocked the church's false claim to celibacy
and revealed the truth: "The holiest hermit has his whore" and "Rome has more
prostitutes than any other city because she has the most celibates" are examples.
Pius II declared that Rome was "the only city run by bastards" [sons of popes and
cardinals]. Catholic historian and former Jesuit Peter de Rosa writes:
Popes had mistresses of fifteen years of age, were guilty of incest and sexual
perversions of every sort, had innumerable children, were murdered in the very act
of adultery [by jealous husbands who found them in bed with their wives].... In
the old Catholic phrase, why be holier than the pope? 16
As for abominations, even Catholic historians admit that among the popes were
some of the most degenerate and unconscionable ogres in all of history. Their
numerous outrageous crimes, many of which are almost beyond belief, have been
recited by many historians from preserved documents that reveal the depths of
papal depravity, some of which we will cover in later chapters. To call any of
these men "His Holiness, Vicar of Christ" makes a mockery of holiness and of
Christ. Yet the name of each one of these unbelievably wicked popes, mass
murderers, fornicators, robbers, warmongers, some guilty of the massacre of
thousands - is emblazoned in honor on the Church's official list of popes. These
abominations that John foresaw not only occurred in the past but continue to this
very day, as we shall see.
Drunk with the Martyrs' Blood
John next notices that the woman is drunk and not with an alcoholic beverage.
She is drunk with "the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus..." (Revelation 17:6). The picture is a horrible one. It is not
merely her hands that are red with this blood, but she is drunk with it!
The slaughter of innocents who, for conscience' sake, would not yield to her
totalitarian demands has so refreshed and exhilarated her that she reels in
ecstasy.
One thinks immediately of the Inquisitions (Roman, Medieval, and Spanish) which
for centuries held Europe in their terrible grip. In his History of the
Inquisition, Canon Llorente, who was the Secretary to the Inquisition in
Madrid from 1790-92 and had access to the archives of all the tribunals, estimated
that in Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded 3 million, with
about 300,000 burned at the stake. 17 A Catholic historian comments
upon events leading up to the suppression of the Spanish Inquisition in 1809:
When Napoleon conquered Spain in 1808, a Polish officer in his army, Colonel
Lemanouski, reported that the Dominicans [in charge of the Inquisition] blockaded
themselves in their monastery in Madrid. When Lemanouski's troops forced an
entry, the inquisitors denied the existence of any torture chambers.
The soldiers searched the monastery and discovered them under the
floors. The chambers were full of prisoners, all naked, many insane. The
French troops, used to cruelty and blood, could not stomach the sight. They emptied
the torture-chambers, laid gunpowder to the monastery and blew the place
up. 18
To wring out confessions from these poor creatures, the Roman Catholic Church
devised ingenious tortures so excruciating and barbarous that one is sickened by
their recital. Church historian Bishop William Shaw Kerr writes:
The most ghastly abomination of all was the system of torture. The accounts
of its cold-blooded operations make one shudder at the capacity of human beings
for cruelty. And it was decreed and regulated by the popes who claim to
represent Christ on earth....
Careful notes were taken not only of all that was confessed by the victim, but
of his shrieks, cries, lamentations, broken interjections and appeals for
mercy. The most moving things in the literature of the Inquisition are not the
accounts of their sufferings left by the victims but the sober memoranda kept by
the officers of the tribunals. We are distressed and horrified just because
there is no intention to shock us. 19
The remnants of some of the chambers of horror remain in Europe and may be
visited today. They stand as memorials to the zealous outworking of Roman
Catholic dogmas which remain in force today, and to a Church which claims to
be infallible and to this day justifies such barbarism. They are also memorials
to the astonishing accuracy of John's vision in Revelation 17. In a book
published in Spain in 1909, Emelio Martinez writes:
To these three million victims [documented by Llorente] should be added the
thousands upon thousands of Jews and Moors deported from their homeland.... In
just one year, 1481, and just in Seville, the Holy Office [of the Inquisition]
burned 2000 persons; the bones and effigies of another 2000 ... and another
16,000 were condemned to varying sentences.20
Peter de Rosa acknowledges that his own Catholic Church "was responsible for
persecuting Jews, for the Inquisition, for slaughtering heretics by the thousand,
for reintroducing torture into Europe as part of the judicial process." Yet the
Roman Catholic Church has never officially admitted that these practices were evil,
nor has she apologized to the world or to any of the victims or their
descendants. Nor could Pope John Paul II apologize today because "the doctrines
responsible for those terrible things still underpin his position." 21
Rome has not changed at heart no matter what sweet words she speaks when it
serves her purpose.
More Blood Than the Pagans
Pagan Rome made sport of throwing to the lions, burning and otherwise killing
thousands of Christians and not a few Jews. Yet "Christian" Rome slaughtered
many times that number of both Christians and Jews. Beside those victims of the
Inquisition, there were Huguenots, Albigenses, Waldenses, and other Christians
who were massacred, tortured, and burned at the stake by the hundreds of thousands
simply because they refused to align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church
and its corruption and heretical dogmas and practices. Out of conscience they tried
to follow the teachings of Christ and the apostles independent of Rome, and for that
crime they were maligned, hunted, imprisoned, tortured, and slain.
Why would Rome ever apologize for or even admit this holocaust? No one calls her to
account today. Protestants have now forgotten the hundreds of thousands of people
burned at the stake for embracing the simple gospel of Christ and refusing to bow
to papal authority. Amazingly, Protestants are now embracing Rome as Christian
while she insists that the "separated brethren" be reconciled to her on her
unchangeable terms!
Many evangelical leaders are intent upon working with Roman Catholics to
evangelize the world by the year 2000. They don't want to hear any "negative"
reminders of the millions of people tortured and slain by the Church to which
they now pay homage, or the fact that Rome has a false gospel of sacramental works.
"Christian" Rome slaughtered Jews by the thousands far more than pagan Rome ever
did. The land of Israel was seen as belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, not
to the Jews. In 1096 Pope Urban II inspired the first crusade to retake
Jerusalem from the Muslims. With the cross on their shields and armor, the
Crusaders massacred Jews across Europe on their way to the Holy Land. Almost
their first act upon taking Jerusalem "for Holy Mother Church" was to herd all
of the Jews into the synagogue and set it ablaze. These facts of history cannot
be swept under the carpet of ecumenical togetherness as though they never
happened.
Nor can the Vatican escape considerable responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust,
which was thoroughly known to Pius XII in spite of his complete silence
throughout the war on that most important of subjects. 22 The
involvement of Catholicism in the Holocaust will be examined later. Had the
pope protested, as representatives of Jewish organizations and the Allied Powers
begged him to do, he would have condemned his own church. The facts are
inescapable:
In 1936, Bishop Berning of Osnabruch had talked with the Fuehrer for over an
hour. Hitler assured his lordship there was no fundamental difference between
National Socialism and the Catholic Church. Had not the church, he argued, looked
on Jews as parasites and shut them in ghettos?
"I am only doing," he boasted, "what the church has done for fifteen hundred
years, only more effectively." Being a Catholic himself, he told Berning, he
"admired and wanted to promote Christianity." 23
There is, of course, another reason why the Roman Catholic Church has neither
apologized for nor repented of these crimes. How could she? The execution
of heretics (including Jews) was decreed by "infallible" popes. The Catholic
Church herself claims to be infallible, and thus her doctrines could not be wrong.
Reigning over the Kings of the Earth
Finally, the angel reveals to John that the woman "is that great city which
reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:18). Is there such a city?
Yes, and again only one: Vatican City. Popes crowned and deposed kings and
emperors, exacting obedience by threatening them with excommunication. At the
time of the First Vatican Council in 1869, J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger, Professor
of Church History in Munich, warned that Pope Pius IX would force the Council to
make an infallible dogma out of "that pet theory of the Popes that they could
force kings and magistrates, by excommunication and its consequences, to carry
out their sentences of confiscation, imprisonment, and death...." He reminded
his fellow Roman Catholics of some of the evil consequences of papal political
authority:
When, for instance, [Pope] Martin IV placed King Pedro of Aragon under
excommunication and interdict...then promised indulgences for all their sins to
these who fought with him and [tyrant] Charles [I of Naples) against Pedro, and
finally declared his kingdom forfeit...which cost the two kings of France and
Aragon their life, and the French the loss of an army... Pope Clement IV, in 1265, after selling millions of South Italians to Charles of
Anjou for a yearly tribute of eight hundred ounces of gold, declared that he would
be excommunicated if the first payment was deferred beyond the appointed term,
and that for the second neglect the whole nation would incur interdict....
24
Though John Paul II lacks the power to enforce such brutal claims today, his
Church still retains the dogmas which authorize him to do so. And the practical
effects of his power are no less than those of his predecessors, though exercised
quietly behind the scenes. The Vatican is the only city which exchanges ambassadors
with nations, and she does so with every major country on earth. Ambassadors come
to the Vatican from every major country, including the United States, not out of
mere courtesy but because the pope is the most powerful ruler on earth today.
Even President Clinton journeyed to Denver in August 1993 to greet the pope.
He addressed him as "Holy Father" and "Your Holiness."
Yes, ambassadors of nations come to Washington D.C, to
Paris, or to London, but only because the national government has its capital
there. Nor does Washington, Paris, London, or any other city send ambassadors
to other countries. Only Vatican City does so. Unlike any other city on
earth, the Vatican is acknowledged as a sovereign state in its own right, separate
and distinct from the nation of Italy surrounding it. There is no other city in
history of which this has been true, and such is still the case today.
Only of the Vatican could it be said that a city reigns over the kings of the
earth. The phrase "the worldwide influence of Washington" means the influence
not of that city but of the United States, which has its capital there. When
one speaks, however, of the influence of the Vatican around the world, that
is exactly what is meant the city and the worldwide power of Roman Catholicism
and its leader the pope. Vatican City is absolutely unique.
Forget a Rebuilt Babylon
Some suggest that the Vatican will move to Babylon in Iraq when it is rebuilt.
But why should it? The Vatican has been fulfilling John's vision from its
location in Rome for the past 15 centuries. Moreover, we have shown the connection
to ancient Babylon which the Vatican has maintained down through history in the
paganized Christianity it has promulgated. As for ancient Babylon itself, it
wasn't even in existence during the past 2300 years to "reign over the kings of
the earth." Babylon lay in ruins while pagan Rome and later Catholic Rome, the new
Babylon, was indeed reigning over kings.
One eighteenth-century historian counted 95 popes who claimed to have divine power
to depose kings and emperors. Historian Walter James wrote that Pope Innocent
III (1198-1216) "held all Europe in his net."25 Gregory IX (1227-41)
thundered that the pope was lord and master of everyone and everything.
Historian R.W. Southern declared: "During the whole medieval period there was in
Rome a single spiritual and temporal authority [the papacy] exercising powers which
in the end exceeded those that had ever lain within the grasp of a Roman emperor."
26
That the popes reigned over kings is an undisputed fact of history that we will
more fully document later. That in so doing horrible abominations were
committed, as John foresaw, is also indisputable. Pope Nicholas I (858-67)
declared: "We [popes] alone have the power to bind and to loose, to absolve
Nero and to condemn him; and Christians cannot, under penalty of excommunication,
execute other judgment than ours, which alone is infallible." In commanding one
king to destroy another, Nicholas wrote:
We order you, in the name of religion, to invade his
states, burn his cities, and massacre his people....27
The qualifying information which John gives us under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit for identifying this woman, who is a city, is specific, conclusive, and
irrefutable. There is no city upon earth, past or present, which meets all of these
criteria except Catholic Rome and now Vatican City. That inescapable conclusion
will become increasingly clear as we proceed to uncover the facts.
Footnotes
1The Catholic Encyclopedia (Thomas Nelson, 1976), s.v. "Rome." Return to text
2Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" (Ignatius Press, 1988), p. 200. Return to text
3Catechism of the Catholic Church (The Wanderer Press, 1994), p. 279, para. 1075. Return to text
4Sidney Z. Ehler, John B. Morrall, trans. and eds., Church and State Through the Centuries (London, 1954), pp. 153-59; Hakluytus Posthumus (William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, London, 1625) as cited in Avro Manhattan, The Vatican Billions (Chino, CA. 1983), p. 90. Return to text
11William Shaw Kerr, A Handbook of the Papacy (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott), p. 241. Return to text
12J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger, The Pope and the Council (London, 1869), pp. 307-08. Return to text
13Nino Lo Bello, The Vatican Empire (Trident Press, 1968), p. 167. See also David A. Yallop, In God's Name (Bantam Books, 1984); Richard Hammers, The Vatican Connection (Penguin Books, 1983). Return to text
14James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel, eds., The Code of Canon Law (Paulist Press, 1985), Canon 1273. Return to text
22E.g. Guenter Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany (McGraw-Hill, 1964), pp. 300-04. The same facts have been documented by many other authors and historians as well. Return to text
23De Rosa, op. cit., p. 5; Lewy, op. cit., p. 111. Return to text
25Walter James, The Christian in Politics (Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 47. Return to text
26R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, vol. 2., Pelican Hisotry of the Church series (Penguin Books, 1970), pp. 24-25. Return to text
27Cormenin, History of the Popes, p. 243, as cited in R.W. Thompson, op. cit., p. 368. Return to text