Some of the local Catholic Christians believed the incident to be a miracle; a skeptic-rationalist and atheist author Sanal Edamaruku, provided evidence that the water stemmed from a faulty sewage system, which seeped due to capillary action.
[1] However, Edamaruku also accused Latin Christian priests of regularly scamming devotees and defrauding miracles to make money in order to build bigger and newer churches or convents,[2] and mocked the Pope as "anti-science".
[3] A church representative admitted Edamaruku had the "right to doubt" and Christian activists said that the backlash was not for debunking the alleged "miracle", but for the defamatory statements made on live television.
The parish priest of the church, Augustine Palett, stated "whether science can explain what happened or not, a miracle did occur in Irla, namely that of having dozens of Christians, Hindus and Muslims pray together under the cross.
[15] Colin Gonsalves, the founder of the India Center for Human Rights and Law, stated his opinion that no criminal offence had been committed.