Revelation 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Revelation 6:4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Revelation 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Revelation 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Revelation 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The Catholic Church has many issues, and has many past sins. But that is only because it is a religion controlled by men, and everything controlled by man becomes corrupt. But they are not the whore of Babylon, the Catholic Church saved Christianity. If the Roman Emperor Constantine did not convert, the Christian faith would have been destroyed. The reason is very simple, the only nation at that time who read/write was the Romans. All the "barbarian" tribes around the middle east and Europe was all oral traditions and laws passed down by their village elders, and at that time entire tribes were killed off by the Romans, Huns, etc. You can point out the Greeks, Israel, and Egypt had writing. But they were all conquered by the Romans, and the Romans started to kill every Christian until Constantine. Then with the influence and historians of Rome, they were able to collect all the original letters of the disciples and the OT from Israel to create the "Bible" then continued the religion on until all of Europe was converted. Of course God could have used another means to continue Christ's work after his death, but he chose the Catholic Church for very specific reasons.
To the topic of the question, who or what is the whore of Babylon. First you need to understand what Babylon is, and that is spoken of in Revelations:
Revelations 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon is the Kingdom of satan when he is here on Earth, everyone will be apart of the Kingdom if they like it or not. Revelations 6 when it speaks of the first four "seals", it is in fact speaking of the creation of Babylon piece by piece.
First a white horse will conquer the world, but that reminds us of Jesus' coming as he will come on a white horse(
Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.) Before the end comes and satan comes down as the anti-Christ, there will come first a false prophet, as Elijah will come before Jesus' coming. The "white horse" which is suppose to be coming like Jesus coming will pretend to be bringing righteousness and peace to the world, but he will be just setting the world up by creating satan's false Christianity. (
Revelations 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.) The "beast" is "Babylon", it goes back and forth in terms in Revelations, but when Jesus returns the Kingdom of satan and his false prophet will be destroyed. We also learn that the false prophet did "miracles...with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast".
While the false prophet spread lies to deceive the world, the "embodiment" of that false Christianity is called the "whore". Simply put the "whore" is satan's religion that helps give power to his Kingdom, as we learn in revelations:
Revelation 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. The "whore...did corrupt the earth with her fornication", now the "fornication" is sin as we are suppose to be kept virgins for the marriage with Christ on his return. By people following the false religion at the end and worshipping satan as their god, they will have defiled themselves and are no longer virgins waiting for their husband. As Proverbs explains temptation or lusts of the flesh, anything that tries to pull you away from God's path is a "whore" trying to defile your spirit.
Proverbs 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. At the end times the temptation will be the luring of the false prophet and his religion, because as Jesus said he will do great wonder that if it was possible even the very elect would be deceived.
Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, 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 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
The whore will be "arrayed in purple and scarlet...decked with gold", the false religion will be very powerful. "Having a golden cup...full of abominations...her forehead was a name written...mother of harlots". The "whore" will not only be powerful but filled with "abominations" , and the false religion will be the "mother of harlots". So from the "whore" as a "mother", every false teacher and deceiver will be born of her. Which is true for a religion, if you have a false religion it breeds lies and religions leaders that spread those lies. She will be "drunken with the blood of the saints", so we know that because of her many Christians will be spiritually killed when they start to follower the "whore" and believe the lie of satan when he is here. They will still call themselves Christians as they bow down to satan and worship him, but they will just be seduced by the whore.
Fun facts: Not on topic, but just if people are wondering. The second stage is the formation of the government of satan's kingdom, the "red horse", it will have power to take peace away and make war like a country leadership can. The third stage is the economy of satan's kingdom, which is the "black horse...had balances...a measure of wheat for a penny". The last stage of the creation of satan's kingdom is the coming of satan himself, which is the "pale horse" (Revelation 12:7-12).
