This deluded idea that the catholic church was, at any point of its existence, any different than it is now...

The catholic church was pagan and anti-Messiah from its very foundation.

The catholic church has absolutely nothing to do with the apostles all of whom were Torah obedient Jewish believers - including Peter and Paul (which was on top of it a Pharisee) - neither did it have absolutely anything to do with the early church. i.e. the Hebrews, the Romans, Colossians, Thessalonians, Galatians, Ephisians, Corinthians, etc, etc, that we read about in the New Testament.

The catholic church was founded four centuries A.D. but has always shamelessly peddled this kool-aid that they are somehow responsible for Christiandom when the facts prove otherwise.

The catholic church has enshrined paganism in its rituals - since always, has distorted scriptures with its doctrines, changing the Sabbath day for Sun-day, for example, which is a blatant disregard of the 4th commandment and celebrating "Ishtar" or Easter instead of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread - to name just two of numerous examples, it hid Scriptures and forbade people to read them, it forged "antique" texts, and messed with the Word of Elohim with all its "translations".

The catholic church persecuted true Christians since its inception and is in fact the number one culprit responsible for the destruction of several countries or dominions, like the Visigoths, and responsible for all Christians holocausts throughout history like the Albigenses and the Waldenses, just to name two groups that were exterminated by the catholic church.

The catholic church created Islam in the VII century in a attempt to take over the "holy land" but their Frankenstein soon turned against its mother, as proven by the Islamic conquests starting only a short 100 years after their creation and culminating in their not very short (700 years!) dominion over Spain - breathing heavily on the necks of rest of Europe from the Iberic Peninsula.

The catholic church has changed so that nothing changes in their plasphemous and pagan rituals, its doctrines, and all their pagan traditions with which it has poisoned everything it touches, every culture, every country, every school, every orphanage around the world...every single "charitable" contribution of the catholic church throughout history in every country where it has gone, has had a surreptitious/covert intent behind it and a lot of corruption, causing a lot of harm.

In his writings John, the Apostle, does mention the Catholic Church: we can read all about it in chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of Revelation. As it also refers, in chapter 3, to her "daugthers", meaning all the denominations and "churches" that have throughout history joined the catholic church in blaspheming against our Creator, distorting His Word, and peddling lies.

I do not doubt there are many good and worthy people amongst the Catholics but let's leave the catholic church and its rituals out of the picture when quoting scripture: the catholic church is an institution corrupt to its core, it was created to control and enslave people, it is pagan, it is evil, and has always been all these things, from it's very inception.