Duarte Costa
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa (1888-1961), born in Brazil, was consecrated Titular Bishop of Maura and Diocesan Bishop of Botucatu, Sao Paulo, Brazil of the Roman Catholic Church on 8 December 1924 by Sebastiao Leme de Silveira Cintra, Titular Bishop of Orthosia, who was also later Cardinal and Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro.
From the 1930s to the end of World War II, Duarte-Costa repeatedly spoke out for the reform of the Church, especially rejecting Papal Infallibility which he considered "a misguided and false dogma". He promoted a more "pastoral" approach to those who are divorced and challenged mandatory celibacy for the clergy.
An advocate for Brazil's poor, Duarte Costa was an outspoken critic of the Vatican's foreign policy and its cooperation with Brazil's totalitarian regime before and during World War II. His criticism of the Brazilian government resulted in his imprisonment in 1944 until President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill pressured Brazil for his release. Duarte Costa publicly denounced the Vatican Secretariat of State after learning that Vatican passports were being issued to some high ranking former Nazi officials to allow them to flee to the safety of South America. Pope Pius XII excommunicated Duarte Costa on 6 July 1945. Duarte-Costa immediately established the Igreja Catolica Apostolica Brasileira (Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil).
Duarte Costa first consecrated Bishop Ferraz for the new church that same year. Thirteen years later (1958) Ferraz, a former Roman Catholic priest, reconciled and returned to the Roman Catholic Church, under Pope Pius XII, and was allowed to serve a diocese. Ferraz was never re-consecrated a bishop by the Roman Catholic Church, not even conditionally. His consecration as a bishop was simply recognized as such and he was appointed Titular Bishop of Eleuterna by Pope John XXIII on 12 May 1963. Pope Paul VI also appointed him to serve on a working commission during Vatican II. Upon his death in 1969, Bishop Ferraz was buried with full honors accorded a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.
Duarte-Costa died in 1961 and was succeeded by Dom Luis Castillo Mendez. It is to be noted that Dom Luis Castillo Mendez, the present primate of the Igreja Catolica Apostolica Brasileira, uses the traditional Roman Pontifical for all episcopal consecrations and is more theologically conservative than his consecrator.
Categories: 1888 births | 1961 deaths | Roman Catholic bishops | Catholics not in communion with Rome
