Looks to me like the RCC is the mother and the 7 churches of chapters 2&3 are the harlots
The woman that rides the scarlet colored beast is the unified religious system which the Pope is the head of it, and the Vatican is the headquarters.
The Bible warns the saints of the new age movement that is the future for this sinful world ( 1Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:2-4), and will develop in to a unified religious system, with an interpretation of the Bible based on the occult, nature worship, witchcraft, and evolution, and people can still evolve to be greater, and Jesus is not Lord and Savior, but a good teacher in the evolutionary process and love, and an ascended master and avatar, and do not acknowledge a personal God, but honor the God of forces, or the power of nature as their higher power, and are waiting for the New Age Christ to cause them to evolve to be greater, and spiritual, and they will be like the man Jesus, an ascended master and avatar.
All religions will be interpreted by the new age movement, and anything preached contrary to that is a hate crime.
The Pope and the Vatican will give over to the new age movement, which the Roman Catholic Church when they embraced Christianity did not get rid of their pagan ways, but held unto them and it became their foundation for the interpretation of scriptures, so they do a lot of things that would be considered what pagan religions do, and the Vatican was probably infiltrated by people of the new age persuasion to lead the Church to that interpretation of the Bible.
The Bible says Babylon will never have physical dominion again, but her ways are still on earth, which represent human religion, and the kingdom of man, along with the ways of Medo-Persia, which represent physical cruelty, and the ways of Greece, which represents human wisdom, and the Roman Empire does not lose their dominion until Jesus puts them down, which is the ten horn kingdom, the world split in to ten sections with a leader in each section.
They all show up at the beast kingdom in Revelation 13, the ten horn kingdom, Roman Empire, iron, having the physical dominion, Babylon, Lion, going by their own religion, Medo-Persia, Bear, being physically cruel to take away everyone that opposes their kingdom, and Greece, Leopard, going by their own wisdom (Daniel 7).
And none of those kingdoms fall until Jesus hits the toes of the image of a man in Daniel 2 that represents all 4 kingdoms, then they all fall, for as long as their ways are still on earth their kingdom has not toppled yet, although with the first 3 kingdoms they will never have physical dominion again.
So Babylon has not fallen yet for her ways are still on earth, and the beast kingdom is the kingdom of man in it's entirety, so the beast kingdom is Babylon in spirit, and the truth is a person either belongs to the kingdom of God, or Babylon, the kingdom of man, all through history, even though Babylon only ruled physically for so long, for all who are not part of the kingdom of God is part of the kingdom of man, Babylon, which she is responsible for all the slain on earth.
The Pope is not the antichrist, but the false prophet, who will lead the unified religious system, and the Vatican the headquarters, and is the mother of harlots, for she leads all the false religions of the world interpreted by the new age movement, the occult, which is what Babylon represented, and they can still evolve.
The Pope does not qualify to be the antichrist, for the antichrist will not compete with people for positions of power, for he will not compete for any political office, no spiritual office such as the Pope, will not be involved in competing in business, or anything else that people compete with each other, for he will come in with a bang and do what no other person could do, and that is establish peace in the Middle East, which is the hindrance to the nations coming together, which they want all nations to come together as one to try to solve peace on earth, and he will work from there as a man of peace.
All the antichrist is concerned with is being the New Age Christ, and no other position, which there is no competing for that position, and he will be the only one, and unique above all people that ever lived, for he did what no person could do, and that is rule the world, which he has power over all nations, kindreds, and tongues.
When the antichrist claims to be God by harnessing the power of nature, and obtained power, evolved, the false prophet, the Pope, will do miracles in the sight of people to convince them the New Age Christ did obtain power through the power of nature, and gave this power to the false prophet, and will share this power with all people who follow him.
But the Bible says they are lying wonders.
The ten horn kingdom failed at obtaining peace, and hand their power over to the antichrist, and that is how he gets control of the world, and when they follow the New Age Christ then the unified religious system, the woman, whore, will no longer be needed, which they burn her with fire, and eat her flesh, and do away with her.
Continued,