in april 2016, pope francis issued the apostolic exhortation "amoris laetitia". meisner and three other cardinals (carlo caffarra, walter brandmüller and raymond leo burke) submitted "dubia" (doubts) in private, followed by a public letter ("seeking clarity: a plea to untie the knots in "amoris laetitia"") in november 2016, asking francis to clarify various points of doctrine. the first "dubia" asked about the reception of the sacraments by the divorced and remarried. the public letter asked about fundamental issues of the christian life and referenced pope john paul ii's encyclical "veritatis splendor". in april 2017, following no reply to their letter, the cardinals requested a meeting with francis, but there had been no response to this request by june 2017.