[1] On 8 March 1947, Castillo Mendez became the founder of the independent Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAV – Iglesia Católica Apostólica Venezolana).

His parents were Castillo Lopéz and Carmen Mendez and he had five siblings: Ramón, Domingo, Cecilia, José de Jesús and Antonio Obdulio.

He was twice expelled from Roman Catholic seminaries, each after only one term, was subsequently jailed in 1938 for impersonating a priest, and was suspected of having a pathological fixation with the priesthood.

[2] The Roman Catholic authorities immediately rejected his claim to the priesthood, and after being detained by the police he agreed to leave the country.

Castillo Mendez officially registered the new church with the Interior Ministry in early 1947, with signed affidavits from 250 fellow priests who had unanimously elected him Bishop of Caracas.

The Minister of Interior immediately ordered the federal police to ensure that Castillo Mendez did not wear the vestments or insignia of the office of a bishop.

Having been elected leader by his fellow priests in the nascent national church, he sought to go to Brazil to receive episcopal consecration from Duarte Costa.

In the end, Castillo Mendez and Carlos Duarte Costa made arrangements 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.

With an abrupt change of government, Castillo Mendez fled to Brazil on 21 June 1950, where he was installed by Duarte Costa as parish vicar and diocesan bishop of Uberlandia in the state of Minas Gerais.

[8] Antidio Jose Vargas initially took over as General Supervisor, followed by Pedro dos Santos Silva as first President of the Episcopal Council, and Luigi Mascolo in the 1970s.

He was said to recite the rosary several times every day; a practice that was abolished by the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church under Duarte Costa.