While many Latter-day Saint interpreters, especially those from the 19th century, believed that the “great and abominable church” was one to one equivalent to Roman Catholicism, more careful interpreters of the Book of Mormon on this point understand that Roman Catholicism is not the same as, or at least exhausted by, the “great and abominable church” in 1 Nephi 13-14 (e.g., Stephen D. Robinson, Nephi's "Great and Abominable Church").
While I have written much against Catholic theology (e.g., Answering Tim Staples in Patristic Mariology and the Immaculate Conception; Responses to Robert Sungenis, Not By Bread Alone [2000/2009]), I agree with Robinson and other interpreters that equating the Catholic Church with the “Great and Abominable Church” is eisegesis.
H. Clay Gorton (of “Ask Gramps” fame) wrote the following against the “Roman Catholic” interpretation. While I disagree with much of what Gorton has written on many topics, I am reproducing this as he brings up good points against such an eisegetical interpretation of the Book of Mormon and also that it is not a novel interpretation nor one driven by any sense of ecumenism or revisionism among many modern Latter-day Saint interpreters:
We read in 1 Nephi 14:10 that there are save two churches only. If someone were to name the Catholic Church as the great and abominable, what about all the others? Are they therefore not churches? Nonsense! When the Lord says that there are two churches only, He is not speaking of the man made religious organizations, as they comprise many churches. All of these churches do much good. They may not have the authority of the necessary doctrine to assure either salvation or exaltation in the celestial kingdom. But their practioners, through adherence to their churches' beliefs and through living good lives, are assured by the Lord to inherit kingdoms of glory. Hugh Nibley offered this insight:
"Now we have 'that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that 'great and abominable church.' You notice that the great and abominable church is not capitalized. It's not one particular institution. I think that may be significant that the brethren left it what way." (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p. 202)
In the scripture you cite the Lord is not speaking of the organized churches as we know them. One church in that scripture is the Church of the Lamb of God and the other is the church of the devil. We might begin by asking, What is the Church of the Lamb of God? In verse 13 we read that "the Church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God." So the Church of the Lamb is composed of the saints of God. Next, we ask, Who are the saints of God? Again, the answer is given in this same chapter. Verse 14 says,
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, behold the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord.
The word “and” here does not mean “and also,” it means “and in other words.” This phrase is a synonymous parallelism, with which the scriptures are replete, meaning that the saints of the Church of the Lamb are the covenant people of the Lord.
Who then are the covenant people of the Lord? They are those who, in the holy temples, make sacred covenants of obedience to the gospel and who live by their covenants. Not every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made and keeps the covenants of the holy temple. So I hope that I will not be misunderstood if I say that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the Church of the Lamb. However, let us quickly add that it is the guardian of the covenants of the Church of the Lamb. It may be that not all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are of the Church of the Lamb, but all of the members of the Church of the Lamb are indeed faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The scriptures tell us that
whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.
This statement helps defined the two churches. It is apparent that they go far beyond the manmade organizations of today. Every person in every age of the world who has made and keeps the sacred covenants of salvation, who has had his garments washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, who has been sanctified from sin, is of the Church of the Lamb of God. All others are influenced to one degree or another by the Adversary of all righteousness. Elder B.H. Roberts settled this question in his Defense of the Faith and the Saints, Vol. 1, p. 31:
“I would not like, therefore, to designate the Catholic Church as the church of the devil. Neither would I like to designate anyone or all of the various divisions and subdivisions of Protestant Christendom combined as such church; nor the Greek Catholic Church; nor the Buddhist sects; nor the followers of Confucius; nor the followers of Mohammed; nor would I like to designate even the societies formed by deist and atheists as constituting the church of the devil. The Book of Mormon text ought to be read in connection with its context.” (Clay Gorton, Ask Gramps, Volume 2: Another 101 Everyday Concerns, Curiosities, and Uncertainties of the Latter-day Saints [Provo, Utah: Maasai Publishing, 2002], 61-63)
