Leonardo Steiner, secretary general of the National Confederation of Brazilian Bishops, told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper that “people of the same sex who live together … need legal support from society.” While Brazil has allowed same-sex marriage since May 2013, the Catholic hierarchy has continued to oppose it. Steiner’s comments referred to civil unions rather than marriage, but he included an open-ended assertion that “the church is always seeking to read the signs of the times, to see what must or must not change.”