The Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAV - ''Iglesia Católica Apostólica Venezolana'') was a short-lived politically inspired independent Catholic church in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It was revived in the twenty-first century after a hiatus of over fifty years and is currently led by Guillermo Pacheco Bornacelli, who serves as Apostolic Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Juan Bautista. The church was initially created in 1947 by Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez and three church members. Castillo Mendez had previously been expelled from Roman Catholic seminary after only one term and jailed for impersonating a priest. He was never recognized as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest. The new church adopted pearl-gray clerical dress in contrast to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

's black, made Spanish the liturgical language instead of Latin, and permitted its clergy to marry; this resulted in formal excommunications of the highest degree."Venezuelan Schism Hit: Archbishop Declares Excommunication of 4 Priests in Move", ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' March 9, 1947, p.5 The ICAV secured political backing by supporting the anti-Catholic agenda of the Democratic Action and Communist parties in Venezuela, and subsequently began to dissolve with the collapse of the ' Adeco' government.Conde Tudanca, Rodrigo. ‘Un Incidente Olvidado del Trienio Adeco: La Creacion de la Iglesia Católica, Apostólica, Venezolana’ (A Forgotten Incident of the Adeco Period: The Creation of the Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church), ''Boletín CIHEV'' No. 8, Yr. 5, Semester Jan.-June 1993, pp.41-81

References

{{reflist Christian organizations established in 1947 Christian denominations established in the 20th century Independent Catholic denominations 1947 establishments in Venezuela