in 1993 german bishops walter kasper, karl lehmann, and oskar saier had a letter read in the churches of their dioceses saying this question of communion for divorced catholics "in complex, individual cases" needed to be addressed. these bishops are said to have supported cardinal bergoglio for the papacy in 2005. when cardinal ratzinger was elected the group disbanded, but when bergoglio was elected in 2013 kasper returned to prominence on this issue.