The Roman Catholic (Universal) Church = The Whore of Revelation Chapter 17, 18
The Following is Taken from the seventh chapter of
Alexander Hislop's "The Two Babylons"
(which was withdrawn from Public libraries).
The Pope is thus on every ground demonstrated to be the visible head of the beast. But the beast has not only a visible, but an invisible head that governs it.
That invisible head is none other than Satan, the head of the first grand apostacy that began in heaven itself. This is put beyond doubt by the language of Revelation 13:4 "And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" This language shows that the worship of the dragon is commensurate with the worship of the beast. That the dragon is primarily Satan, the arch-fiend himself, is plain from the statement of the previous chapter (Rev 12:9) "And the Dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." If, then, the Pope be, as we have seen, the visible head of the beast, the adherents of Rome, in worshipping the Pope, of necessity worship also the Devil.
With the Divine statement before us, there is no possibility of escaping from this. And this is exactly what we might expect on other grounds. Let it be remembered that the Pope, as the head of the Mystery of Iniquity, is "the son of perdition," Iscariot, the false apostle, the traitor. Now, it is expressly stated, that before Judas committed his treason, "Satan," the prince of the Devils, "entered into him," took complete and entire possession of him. From analogy, we may expect the same to have been the case here. Before the Pope could even conceive such a scheme of complicated treachery to the cause of his Lord, as has been proved against him, before he could be qualified for successfully carrying that treacherous scheme into effect, Satan himself must enter into him.
The Mystery of Iniquity was to practise and prosper according "to the working"--i.e., literally, "according to the energy or mighty power of Satan" (2 Thess 2:9).
