On a fateful night in July 1993, the steps of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Candelária Church became the scene of an unspeakable atrocity. As dozens of homeless children slept on the pavement, police officers opened fire, brutally killing eight young souls aged 11 to 19. The Candelária Church Massacre, as it came to be known, sent shockwaves through Brazilian society and exposed the deep-rooted violence faced by the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
Now, over three decades later, streaming giant Netflix is shining a light on this dark chapter in Brazil’s history with its gripping new series “Children of the Church Steps”. The four-part fictionalized drama follows the lives of four street children in the 36 hours leading up to the massacre, offering a poignant glimpse into the harsh realities and broken dreams of Rio’s forgotten youth.
Restoring Humanity to the Victims
Series creator Luis Lomenha, who was a teenager himself when the tragedy unfolded, felt compelled to tell the story from the perspective of the young victims. “When I saw the images of those black bodies lying on the ground, it made a deep impression on me,” Lomenha reflected. “They were children who looked like me, in a state of complete vulnerability.”
By centering the narrative on the lives and dreams of the street children, “Children of the Church Steps” aims to restore the humanity that was so cruelly stripped away from them. The characters, inspired by real-life survivors and family accounts, are portrayed with empathy and depth, inviting viewers to see beyond the societal stigma and connect with their struggles.
A Survivor’s Tale
Among those who narrowly escaped the massacre was 10-year-old Erica Nunes, now 42, whose story inspired the character of Pipoca in the series. “On the day it happened, I’d gone to another church to eat because they were giving out food there,” Nunes recalled. “When I got back, everyone was dead.”
Nunes’ heartbreaking account underscores the desperation and vulnerability of Rio’s street children, many of whom found themselves on the streets due to poverty, abuse, and neglect. The Candelária Church steps served as a makeshift refuge for these forgotten souls, a place where they could find a measure of safety and community in a world that had turned its back on them.
Confronting Systemic Violence
While three police officers and a former officer were eventually convicted for the killings, many believe that the root causes of the massacre run far deeper. Lomenha argues that the police, often poor Black men themselves, serve an oppressive system that perpetuates violence as a means of social control.
It’s easier to just blame them because Brazil’s police forces are generally made up of poor Black men, but they serve an oppressive white agenda that makes them commit these crimes as a survival strategy.
– Luis Lomenha, series creator
Anthropologist and former national security chief Luiz Eduardo Soares echoes this sentiment, tracing the origins of Rio’s notoriously brutal military police to a “200-year tradition of behavior and values stemming from its origins in hunting down enslaved people and protecting the elites.” Despite the public outcry following the Candelária Massacre, Soares believes little has changed in the mindset or training of the police to prevent similar atrocities from occurring.
An Enduring Legacy of Pain
For the survivors and families of the victims, the scars of that fateful night have never fully healed. Patrícia de Oliveira, 50, whose brother Wagner dos Santos miraculously survived being shot four times, has dedicated her life to fighting for justice and preserving the memory of the fallen.
Oliveira leads the group Candelária Never Again, which has tirelessly worked to maintain a wooden cross bearing the names of the eight victims outside the church. Despite repeated vandalism and destruction of the memorial, the group remains undeterred in its mission to ensure that the Candelária Massacre is never forgotten.
They destroyed [the crosses] because the authorities and people in Rio believe that the massacre was necessary to ‘clean’ society of the undesirables.
– Patrícia de Oliveira, Candelária Never Again
The fight for justice and dignity for Brazil’s marginalized youth remains as urgent today as it was three decades ago. While “Children of the Church Steps” serves as a haunting reminder of the lives cut tragically short, it also offers a glimmer of hope that by confronting the painful truths of the past, society may finally begin to reckon with the systemic inequalities and violence that continue to plague its most vulnerable members.
As the series brings the story of the Candelária Massacre to a global audience, it serves as a clarion call for justice, compassion, and change. May the lives lost on those church steps never be forgotten, and may their legacy be a catalyst for building a more just and equitable world for all children, regardless of their circumstances.
