Carlos Duarte Costa

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.[5] 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.[6]

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.[2][6]

On July 4, 1924, Pope Pius XI nominated Duarte Costa as Bishop of Botucatu.[2]

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.[7]

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.[8]

In September 1937, Duarte Costa resigned from his episcopal post and was appointed titular bishop of Maura.[2]

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".[9]

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.[10]

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), personal confessions and the praying of rosaries would be abolished and bishops would be elected by popular vote.[11]

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.[11]

Duarte Costa consecrates Castillo Mendez in 1948

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 Roman Catholic clergy.[12] The ICAB attracted the attention of scholars of Brazilian religions such as Roger Bastide, who described it as "having both a religious and a political program, the latter [having] much in common with the Communist Party".[13]

Unlike the official Catholic Church in Brazil, the ICAB developed friendly relations with Spiritism and Freemasonry. Duarte Costa "began giving talks in Spiritist centers to publicize the new church" and "ICAB would go on to attract many members" of Freemasonry.[14] Duarte Costa also "openly encouraged cooperation with Umbanda, Macumba and Candomblé communities", at that time considered a threat and opposed by the Roman Catholic hierarchy.[15]

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).[16] These bishops had intended to establish similar autonomous Catholic national churches in several other Latin American countries. Relations between the bishops were not always good, and Duarte Costa fought bitterly with Ferraz from the earliest days of the ICAB.[17] His most fractious and quarrelsome relationship was with Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez however, whom he repeatedly denounced as a fraud and a charlatan.[18] Duarte Costa consecrated eleven ICAB bishops in total.[19]