After the deadliest police operation ever carried out in Brazil, Catholic Church authorities spoke out in defense of the dignity of every human life, stressing that hatred and indifference will not solve the country’s problem of violence.

On Oct. 28, the state of Rio de Janeiro, led by Governor Cláudio Castro, launched “Operation Containment,” involving 2,500 police officers. The operation, which had been planned for months, aimed to disrupt the criminal organization Comando Vermelho (Red Command) in parts of the state capital. The Penha and Alemão districts of the city—strongholds of the criminal faction—are home to around 110,000 residents in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, tight-knit slum and shanty communities.

At least 132 people were killed during the police operation, including four police officers, according to the regional public defender’s office.

Images of half-naked bodies lined up on the ground in the favelas of Penha and Alemão circulated around the world, causing shock and deep outrage among civil society organizations and within the church in Brazil. Cardinal Orani João Tempesta, the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, issued a statement, saying, “Violence and fear have wounded the heart of our city and robbed many homes of their peace.”

However, he said, “Human life is a sacred gift from God and must always be defended and preserved. I offer my prayers and deepest solidarity to the families who mourn the loss of their loved ones.”

The death toll has continued to rise as more bodies were discovered in the wooded areas surrounding the Penha and Alemão districts. Part of the police strategy was to push members of the criminal faction into the forest and isolate them there. Some of the bodies were found decapitated, and many showed signs of torture, leading families to call for a more thorough investigation into the police’s actions in the forested area.

During protests on Oct. 31, favela residents condemned the police action and denounced the governor as a murderer, demanding his resignation. Protesters accused the police of extrajudicial slaying and torture.

“This is a disgrace to Brazil,” Leandro Santiago, 44, a resident of the Vila Cruzeiro favela in the Penha district, said. “Nothing justifies this.”

While some in Brazil, particularly right-wing voters and politicians, applauded the operation against the heavily-armed gang, others questioned whether it would achieve lasting results and argued that many of those killed were low-ranking and easily replaceable. The state government reported on Oct. 31 that of the 99 suspects identified so far, 42 had outstanding arrest warrants and at least 78 had extensive criminal records. But local newspaper O Globo said that none of the 99 names were indicted by the Rio de Janeiro public prosecutor’s office in the investigation that supported the major operation.

Although 113 people were arrested, the leaders of the criminal organization managed to escape.

Comando Vermelho is considered one of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil and has existed for more than 50 years. It currently competes for territory and recruitment in prisons and impoverished communities across the country with another faction, the Primeiro Comando da Capital, known as P.C.C. or First Capital Command.

Organized crime in Brazil has expanded in recent decades with drug trafficking as its main source of income. Today, however, criminal groups are involved in a wide range of enterprises, from armed robbery and arms trading to real estate speculation. The criminal groups use seemingly legitimate businesses like gas stations, gambling houses and even sophisticated financial services for money laundering.

This type of Brazilian criminality became internationally known through films such as “City of God” (2002) and “Elite Squad” (2007, with a sequel in 2010). The latter films portray how individuals connected to these and other criminal factions sometimes hold political positions and become active within evangelical churches. Police corruption also plays a crucial role in enabling these groups to gain and maintain power.

In territories controlled by organized crime—typically in urban peripheral areas—the state has little presence. Residents often pay “fees” to local leaders, who in return ensure that basic services such as water, electricity and internet continue to function.

It is common for clashes between rival factions or with the police to result in deaths among criminals, police officers and innocent residents alike—including minors. Brazilian society has learned to tolerate a certain level of violence in this regard; it is not unusual for the problem of violence to be described in casual conversations as “unsolvable.”

The recent campaign to suppress Comando Vermelho has proved the most lethal police action in Brazil’s history.

Sister Petra S. Pfaller, the national coordinator of the Pastoral Carcerária—the Brazilian church’s ministry and advocacy for incarcerated people—expressed “deep sorrow” over the loss of so many lives in Rio de Janeiro in a statement provided to America. She compared the recent events to the Carandiru Massacre of 1992, when an intervention by military police to suppress a prison riot at São Paulo’s House of Detention left 111 inmates dead.

“The way state forces intervened keeps alive a culture of institutional violence that, as a society, we should have already overcome,” she said. “Violence can never be a legitimate instrument for building peace. Today, Rio de Janeiro mourns all the lives that have been lost.”

She added that those involved in prison ministry reaffirm their unwavering commitment to “defending life and human dignity in all spaces and circumstances” and expressed solidarity with the families who have lost loved ones.

“Siblings continue killing siblings,” she wrote. “May we build a country with fewer weapons and more life, less despair and more hope, less repression and more humane, just, and compassionate coexistence.”

Despite the death toll and the violence, Mr. Castro described the operation as a “success.” The governor made the decision to move ahead with the attack on the favela gang without involving the Brazilian federal government or military.

The Rio governor belongs to the Liberal Party, the same party as former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is ineligible for re-election because of his recent criminal conviction for his involvement in an attempt to overturn the results of the last presidential election. Mr. Castro has signaled his intention to run for the Brazilian Senate in upcoming elections in 2026. Since Mr. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison, some allied politicians have sought to distance themselves from his image and build their own political paths.

“I even understand that we are exceeding our authority,” he told Brazilian media, while presenting a preliminary report of the operation to journalists, “but we will continue to do so. And if we need to exceed it even further, we will, fulfilling our mission to serve and protect our people.” Mr. Castro seemed to acknowledge that an operation of this scale should have involved federal authorities.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did not comment on the nature of the operation, but the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security stated that assistance had been offered on many other occasions. But for federal forces to be deployed at such a complex level, a presidential decree would have been required. That decree had not been granted.

Brazil’s federal government has focused on intelligence operations aimed at curbing money laundering and disrupting the flow of resources from organized crime through the banking system instead of brute force assaults on communities under criminal control.

A survey conducted by the AtlasIntel institute, released on Oct. 31, found that eight out of 10 residents of favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro support the mega-operation—even in the face of such deadly results. In other parts of the city, approval for the police action stands closer to 50 percent. The national context reflects a similar proportion for both social groups: Residents of favelas tend to be more supportive of even violent police operations than the rest of the population. According to some public security experts, favela residents often feel abandoned by the state and the massive police gang clampdowns at least create the impression that something is finally being done to curb the power of criminal networks.

In his public statement, Cardinal Tempesta said that the desire for “revenge and indifference” in the face of violence “corrodes the social fabric.”

“It is urgent that we join our efforts for reconciliation, mutual respect, and above all, for the protection of life, the promotion of justice, and the building of a peaceful society that upholds the dignity of every person—especially the poorest and most vulnerable,” the cardinal said.

The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil joined the cardinal in a similar appeal, stating in a brief declaration “that human life and dignity are sacred gifts from God, and that peace must always be sought and promoted by all.”

With reporting from The Associated Press

Filipe Domingues is a Brazilian journalist who reports on religion, environment and economics.