ARCHBISHOP LUIS CASTILLIO MENDEZ,
2nd Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil
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Archbishop Luis Fernando Castillo Méndez was born in Caracas, Venezuela on December 4, 1922 and baptized on December 22 in the Parish of Saint John the Baptist. His parents were Castillo Lopéz and Carmen Méndez and had five siblings: Ramón, Domingo, Cecilia, José de Jesús and Antonio Obdulio. After studying in the Roman Catholic archdiocesan seminary in Caracas, he left with a bachelor's degree and travelled with his class of seminarians to Solsona, Catalonia, in Spain, and on August 10, 1944, Bishop Valentín Comellas y Santamaría ordained him to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Santa Maria.
Upon returning to Venezuela, at a time of massive upheaval in the country, Fr Castillo Méndez became involved in a movement called the Curas Criollos ("Native Priests"). Fr Mendez learned of a great church reform movement led by Vatican critic Dom Carlos Duarte Costa, former Roman Catholic bishop of Botucatu, Brazil and founder of the National Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil in 1945. Fr Castillo Méndez entered into dialogue Archbishop Duarte Costa.
In 1947 Fr Castillo Méndez and three other clergy formally broke from the Church of Rome and established the "Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church". The Venezuelan church would use Spanish instead of Latin in the liturgy, and would permit its clergy to marry. When Fr Castillo Méndez filed the new church's organizational papers with the Interior Ministry in early 1947, and 250 of his fellow priests unanimously elected him Bishop of Caracas, the Pro-Roman Catholic Minister of Interior immediately ordered the federal police to ensure that Fr Castillo Méndez did not wear the vestments or insignia of the office of a bishop. However, the new church did receive public approval from the Democratic Action and Communist parties.
On March 8, 1947 Fr Castillo Méndez and the other three founders of the Venezuelan independent church were formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Roman Catholic Archbishop Lucas Guillermo Castillo for violating "fundamental dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church and held concepts blasphemous, as well as several which are offensive to the person and authority of the Roman Pope Pius XII." When Fr Castillo Mendez attempted to go to Brazil to be consecrated a bishop by Archbishop Duarte Costa, the Venezuelan government both blocked him from going, nor would it allow Duarte Costa to enter Venezuela. Fr Castillo Méndez and Archbishop Duarte Costa thus agreed to meet in the Panama Canal Zone, a territory under the jurisdiction of the United States, which did not have formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican at that time. On May 3, 1948, Archbishop Costa, who was assisted by Dom Salamao Ferraz, Bishop of Sao Paulo, consecrated Castillo Méndez as "Bishop of Caracas and Primate of Venezuela".
Immediately, persecution came at the hands of the Roman Catholic Cardinal in Venezuela and was tortured with hot irons by the Venezuelan government to deny that he was a Catholic bishop. He fled to Brazil on June 21, 1950, where he was installed by Patriarch Duarte Costa as diocesan bishop of Uberlandia in the state of Minas Gerais. In 1957 he was moved to Rio de Janeiro where he served as auxiliary bishop. He was reassigned to Brasília in 1960 where he served as diocesan bishop of the state of Goias. In 1961 he acquired Brazilian citizenship.
Upon the repose of Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa in 1961, leadership of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church was apparently in a flux for several years, with several individuals leading or claiming to lead the church, often for very brief periods of time. By 1982 however he was undisputed leader, elected that year as president of the Episcopal Council. In 1988 he was officially designated as "His Holiness, the Patriarch of ICAB", and in 1990 he was named "Patriarch of ICAN", which then became the Worldwide Communion of Catholic and Apostolic Churches, positions which he held until his death. In the 1980s, he entered into private dialogue with Pope John Paul II at the Pope's request to see if reunification was possible; unfortunately, the Episcopal Council of ICAB refused the idea, remembering the various ongoing acts of malice and even torture committed by the Roman Church against the Brazilian Church.
Despite the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church allows priests and the clergy to marry, Patriarch Castillo Méndez was celibate. He was noted to recite the rosary several times every day; a practice that was abolished by the Church under Archbishop Duarte Costa. Patriarch Castillo Méndez resided in the Patriarchal Palace in Brasilia, where he would remain due to his illness until his death.
On the morning of October 29, 2009 in the Patriarchal Palace, the Patriarch suffered a massive heart attack. He was rushed to a hospital and lost consciousness; he was declared dead at approximately 9:00 am, at the age of 86, in Brasilia, Brazil. His Funeral Mass took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Brasilia, where his body was laid in repose. Attending were the bishops of the Episcopal Council and a large gathering of ecumenical clergy and families.