• Reading I: Rv 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9
• Resp. Psalm: Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
• Gospel Reading: Lk 21:20-28

The high point of the series of frames depicting the last judgment is the Fall of the whore Babylon.  "Babylon" is the label that the author of Revelation puts on the organization that powers every resistance against God and the Lamb.  The name itself recalls the empire that subjected the people of Israel to difficulties that reached its climax in destruction.  In Rev. 18-19, its fall is described; the last bastion of resistance against God and the Lamb is destroyed.

Fundamentalist anti-Catholics following the lead of Savonarola, Luther, Calvin and the other Germanic "protestants" of the 16th century identify the whore of Babylon as the Catholic Church.  A typical argument is found in an article like this one:  What does the word Vatican mean?  The article is decidedly misleading; it isn’t a philological article on the meaning of the word "Vatican" but an article meant to disparage the Catholic Church.  Its main purpose is to show that the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon.   The allegation has been answered in different ways in the following articles:

• Hunting the Whore of Babylon
• The Whore of Babylon
• EWTN Answers: The Whore of Babylon
• Hagee’s Allegation

A history of the interpretation of the word is given in WikiPedia (WikiPedia: Whore of Babylon).  In any case, no serious bible scholar would identify the Whore of Babylon (or the Whore that is Babylon) with the Catholic Church.

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