Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church | |
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Portuguese: Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira | |
Classification | Independent Catholic |
Polity | Episcopal |
Patriarch | Josivaldo Pereira |
Region | Brazil |
Founder | Carlos Duarte Costa |
Origin | 1945 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Separated from | Roman Catholic Church/Latin Church |
Members | 560,781 as of 2010[update] |
The Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (Portuguese: Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira, pronounced [iˈgɾeʒa kaˈtɔɫika aposˈtɔɫika bɾaziˈlejɾa]; ICAB) is an independent Catholic church established in 1945 by Brazilian excommunicated Roman Catholic bishop Carlos Duarte Costa.
As of 2007[update] ICAB has 39 dioceses and has sister churches in many countries. It is the mother church of the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches and the current President of the Episcopal Council in Brazil is Patriarch Dom Josivaldo Pereira de Oliveira.
Costa was an outspoken critic of the regime of Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas (1930–1945) and of the Vatican's alleged relationship with fascist regimes. He also publicly criticized the dogma of papal infallibility and Roman Catholic doctrines on divorce and clerical celibacy. As a result of his outspoken views, Costa resigned from his office of bishop of Botucatu in 1937 and was appointed to a titular see.
In 1940 Cardinal Sebastião da Silveira Cintra, archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, permitted Costa, as titular bishop of Maura, to co-consecrate Bishop Eliseu Maria Coroli. Costa continued to criticize the government and the Roman Catholic Church, advocating policies that were regarded by the authorities as Communist. In 1944 the Brazilian government imprisoned him, but later freed him under political pressure from the United States and Great Britain.