fhnl,
You said " Rome does not fit the description of chapter 18 being a financial super power. Also Rome doesn't reign over anyone except catholics."
You are correct Rome doesn't meet the description Yet.
After the resurrection all the formerly Christian churches will combine because God will cause all the people who heard the truth of the gospel and rejected Jesus to believe the lie of the antichrist 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12. When all the people of the earth are under Mystery Babylon they will have great wealth and political power.
Politically, the spirit of Rome.. such as democracy.. capitalism.. freedom of speech.. citizens rights..emphasis on individual achievement...advanced technologies such as transportation.... fast and easy travel... desire to war and conquer other nations financially, politically or militarily...and violent stadium sporting entertainment (compare gladiator sports of Rome with contact football).
..these do reign over all Western nations of the world. Religiously.. the spirit of Rome.. such as top-down hierarchy..clergy/laity distinctions.. paid pastoral/priestly positions.. a system of giving/tithing to the church, emphasis on sacraments and outward rituals, ceremonies and pomp.. exist not only in the Catholic church but in her children also that came from her.. Anglican, Lutheran.. etc.. the major denominations including Catholic are very wealthy.. if we travel to Europe to see the great Cathedrals we see that.
It helps to understand the purpose of Revelation. The book of Revelation is to encourage and exhort believers in Christ in the midst of persecution (by the Roman Empire and by Jews). So.. we cannot ignore the importance of the Roman Empire and also the fact that most scholars agree that 666 refers to Emperor Nero.
If Babylon is Rome.. which includes the political and religious aspects of the Roman Empire (the religious aspect which is still in existence today)... then the daughter of Babylon is the political and religious aspects of that which came out of the Roman Empire.. which on the political side includes all Western countries.. European, American, etc .. and on the religious side it includes all of the protestant denominations which came out of Mother Rome (specifically Anglican, Lutheran, etc).
Still today Mother Rome calls back her Protestant children and desires they all be one world wide church....and dialogue and reconciliation between protestant and Roman Catholic is continuing and will continue until Christ returns.
It helps to understand what is Babylon. Babylon is confusion.. it is the mixture of things of God with things of the world...it is all the denominations confused over doctrine and practice and divided from one another. But God is not the author of confusion but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33. For God is not the author of confusion,. but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
If your church is in confusion and turmoil.. it is not good!! It's a bad sign that it is Babylon... if we are in things of the world minding worldly things we also will be confused and find it hard to know God's will and know what the bible teaches!
Babylon is mixture of the things of the flesh with things of the spirit.. mixture of things of the world with things of God... Babylon is inside of us too.. whenever we choose to mind the things of the flesh rather than the things of the Spirit...even whenever we do clothing or grocery shopping according to worldly mindsets.. even when we hold to traditions and cultures dear to us and put them before the things of God (e.g. Christmas, Easter etc)..
Note that man's number.. 6.. is very close to God's number of perfection 7. We may look and think it is of God.. but there is part which is of the world. God's number perfection has no spot or wrinkle, there is no defilement from the flesh or the world.. it is completely sanctified, separate, holy. This is why many churches are not preaching the gospel like they should they are just playing nice music to attract young people. They use gambling or raffles to raise money... and their church councils are not seeking the Holy Spirit alone for decision making but they have democratic style majority rules voting systems....this is all example in which churches are mixtures of the world and the things of God.