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Brazilian bishop: same-sex couples need legal support

May 23, 2014

Homosexual couples “need legal support from society,” the secretary-general of the Brazilian bishops’ conference has stated.

Bishop Leonardo Steiner, an auxiliary of the Brasilia archdiocese, told the daily O Globo said that homosexual couples need legal protection against violence.

The Brazilian bishops opposed the recognition of same-sex marriage, which began last year in Brazil. But Bishop Steiner said that the posture of the Church can change. “The Church is always seeking to read the signs of the times, to see what must or must not change,” he said.

 


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  • Posted by: - May. 23, 2014 8:05 PM ET USA

    The article said that almost 1 "sexually challenged" Brazilian is killed every day, a huge number. The bishop said that altho "the truths of faith don't change," the Church can, and he's right. St. Paul had no problem with slavery, but today the Church does. St.Paul never spoke of Mary's Immac. Conception; indeed that doctrine was promulgated less than 200 years ago. So yes, the Church needs to change when necessary, but again, "the truths of faith don't change."

  • Posted by: bruno.cicconi7491 - May. 23, 2014 6:14 PM ET USA

    Brazil ocasionally witnesses "hate crimes" against homossexuals. Once every year, a macho Brazilian beats a gay Brazilian, and even if the fight is not directly related to sexuality, it is usually preceded by insults such as "gay", "faggot", etc. Undoubtly regrettable, but, no more regretable than any other agression, for any other reason. Still, this story is not so bad as the one in which a member of a Sao Paulo Archdiocese commission praised the gay parade.

  • Posted by: [email protected] - May. 23, 2014 5:44 PM ET USA

    This bishop is a little shortsighted. It is we who need legal support from the homosexual agenda. Read the sign of the times. Blow with the wind. This guy should be replaced.

  • Posted by: jg23753479 - May. 23, 2014 4:53 PM ET USA

    What, in Brazil those living in such an arrangement are not now provided with normal police protection? I don't believe that to be the case and so I conclude this bishop and Bishop Nunzio Galantino have been talking (nonsense) on the telephone.

  • Posted by: - May. 23, 2014 2:15 PM ET USA

    Not sure why u reported this story as u did. R u trying to get more of us to follow the link to the main story so we may judge for rselves? Ur reportage suggests a sorry performance by this Brazilian bishop, but the main story shows the bishop staying true to the Church, merely stating that homosexuals still deserve to be safe from violent attacks, and all of us agree on that point.

  • Posted by: Defender - May. 23, 2014 1:21 PM ET USA

    “The Church is always seeking to read the signs of the times, to see what must or must not change.” Seems like many prelates are catching this disease....

  • Posted by: koinonia - May. 23, 2014 1:11 PM ET USA

    "The Church is always seeking to read the signs of the times, to see what must or must not change." This statement expresses almost verbatim a mindset that has been condemned specifically in the past. Of course homosexual couples ought not be victims of violence, but this does not in any way demand of the Church any change in "posture." It appears that "Smaller Church, Bigger Faith" continues to take on an urgency that must inevitably reach a breaking point.