++Carlos Duarte Costa

Consecrated December 8, 1924 by Principal Consecrator: Bishop Sebastião Leme da Silveira Cintra assisted by Bishop Dom Alberto Jose Goncalves and Bishop Dom Benedito Paulo Alves de Souza. ​

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++Luís Fernando Castillo Méndez 

Consecrated May 3, 1948 by Principal Consecrator: Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa assisted by Bishop Salamao Ferraz who was later accepted as a valid Bishop by His Holiness Pope John XXIII, having returned to Rome in 1956.
 

++Neville David Anderson 

Consecrated July 15, 2005 by Principal Consecrator: Archbishop Luís Fernando Castillo Méndez assisted by Bishop Dom Joamir Silva and Bishop Josivaldo. 

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++Andrew Redpath

​Consecrated September 11, 2011, by Principal Consecrator Bishop David Bell assisted by Archbishop Neville Anderson, Bishop John Carroll and Bishop Brian Dingley ​

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++Noel Ormenita, 

Consecrated April 12, 2012 by Principal Consecrator: Archbishop Neville David Anderson assisted by Archbishop Andrew Redpath and Bishop Gordon Nield.

 

++Luis Vera Gamboa 

Consecrated September 15, 2015 by Principal Consecrator: Bishop David Bell, assisted by Archbishop Andrew Redpath, Archbishop Neville Anderson and Bishop John Carroll

​+James Robert Alaniz​​​​​

Consecrated June 14, 2025 by Principal Consecrator: Archbishop Noel Ormenita

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++Michael Andrew Eugene Saintz

Consecrated June 16, 2025 by Principal Consecrator: Archbishop Noel Ormenita assisted by Bishop James Alaniz

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​Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa

(July 21, 1888 – March 26, 1961)

 

 

Carlos Duarte Costa  was a Brazilian Catholic Bishop who became the founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, an Independent Catholic Church, and its international communion, which long after his death became the short-lived Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches. The former Catholic Bishop of Botucatu, he was excommunicated by Pope Pius XII, ultimately for schism, but in culmination of several doctrinal and canonical issues (such as his views on clerical celibacy).

 

Carlos Duarte Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on July 21, 1888, at the residence of his uncle Eduardo Duarte de Silva. His father was João Matta Francisco Costa and his mother was Maria Carlota Duarte da Silva Costa, who came from a family heavily involved in politics and public service. He completed his primary studies at the Salesian College Santa Rosa, in Niterói, and at age nine, he received his first communion in the cathedral of Uberaba from the hands of his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva (now a bishop), on July 24, 1897. That same year he was taken by his uncle to Rome to study at the Pontifical Latin American College, a Jesuit minor seminary. In 1905 he returned to Brazil for health reasons and entered an Augustinian seminary in Uberaba, where he continued his philosophical and theological studies. He only narrowly managed to complete his studies and qualify for ordination, however, and his uncle intervened to vouch for his nephew. After ordination as a deacon, Duarte Costa served in the cathedral church of Uberaba under his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva, who, on April 1, 1911, ordained Duarte Costa to the priesthood. On July 4, 1924, Pope Pius XI nominated Duarte Costa as Bishop of Botucatu.

 

In 1932, Duarte Costa played an active role in the Constitutionalist Revolution, a failed attempt to restore constitutional government to Brazil. Duarte Costa formed a "Battalion of the Bishop" to fight on the side of the Constitutionalist troops and helped finance the battalion by selling off diocesan assets along with his own personal possessions. Duarte Costa's battalion never fought, however, which was a source of disappointment to him.

 

In 1936, Duarte Costa made his second ad limina visit to Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XI. It is widely believed that he presented the pope with a list of radical reform proposals for the Catholic Church in Brazil, though no record of this survives. During this period he did become friends with another outspoken priest who would go on to achieve world fame, Helder Camara.

On September 1937, Duarte Costa resigned from his episcopal post and was appointed titular bishop of Maura.

 

In 1944 he gained further notoriety by writing a glowing preface to the Brazilian translation of The Soviet Power by the Very Reverend Hewlett Johnson, the Anglican Dean of Canterbury known as "The Red Dean" for his uncompromising support of the Soviet Union. Duarte Costa consistently maintained his left-wing allegiance, calling for the establishment of a "Christian communism" in contrast to "Roman [Catholic] Church Fascism." As long as he enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme da Silveira Cintra, Duarte Costa's political activism proceeded without much trouble. However, soon after the cardinal's death, Duarte Costa was formally accused by the Brazilian government of being a communist sympathizer. He was arrested on June 6, 1944, and imprisoned in Belo Horizonte.

 

After his release from prison Carlos Duarte Costa soon found himself in trouble again. In May 1945, Duarte Costa gave newspaper interviews accusing Brazil's papal nuncio of Nazi-Fascist spying, and accused Rome of having aided and abetted Adolf Hitler. In addition, he announced plans to set up his own Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, in which priests would be permitted to marry (and hold regular jobs in the lay world).

 

In response to Duarte Costa's continued insubordination, the Vatican finally laid against him the penalty of excommunication on July 2, 1945. Upon being informed of his excommunication, Duarte Costa responded by saying, "I consider today one of the happiest days of my life." He immediately titled himself "Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro" and told the press that he hoped soon to ordain ten married lawyers and professional men as priests in his new church.

 

After establishing the Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira (ICAB), Duarte Costa continued to use the same vestments, insignia, and rites as he had in the Roman Catholic Church. This provoked the cardinals of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to appeal to the Minister of Justice and the President himself for an injunction against both him and the ICAB. On September 27, 1948, the ICAB churches were closed by the courts, on the grounds that they were deceiving the public into thinking they were Catholic churches and clergy. Duarte Costa quickly filed an appeal, and in 1949 the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that the ICAB could reopen its doors on condition that the church use a modified liturgy and its clergy wear gray cassocks to minimize the potential for confusion with the black-colored cassocks Roman Catholic clergy. 

 

In the years immediately after founding the church, Duarte Costa consecrated four bishops, Salomão Barbosa Ferraz (August 15, 1945), Jorge Alves de Souza and Antidio Jose Vargas (both in 1946) and Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez (May 3, 1948). These bishops had intended to establish similar autonomous Catholic national churches in several other Latin American countries. Duarte Costa consecrated eleven ICAB bishops in total.