Just for a historical note, the Baptist were around since about 400 A.D. Would you call them Protestants? I assume not since the Protestanst didn't come until the reformation.
As already noted in other posts, there were many Christians oppressed by the Catholic Church. No, the Catholic Church was never at any time in history the only "church". It was powerful enough to suppress others at times, it no longer is. The struggle between Christianity and Catholicism has existed since day one of the Catholic Church, and every day since.
*Yawn* Boring old anti-Catholicism.
Crawl back under your bridge, troll.