It has been brought to the notice of His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, that a FIR filed against Mr. Sanal Edamaruku by a group of Catholics because of certain derogative statements made against the Catholic Church
We wish to state the following.
The Cardinal was out of the country when the issue of the Irla cross surfaced and he has been in no way connected with the filing of the FIR.The Cardinal was informed that some derogative were made against the Catholic Church and have been attributed to Mr. Sanal Edamarukun. They are reproduced here below:The Christian clergy under the pretext of religion, regularly manufacture miracles, on the basis of which they collect money.The clergy uses monies thus collected to build newer and bigger churches. This is one such tamasha of many that are existing.There is a distinct possibility that the Christians made a hole in the head of the Jesus statue, with an outlet at the feet for the water.We are told that Christians are not idol worshippers, but incidents and crucifixes like this expose at least the Catholics as idol worshippers.Christians are leaving established churches, and to halt the exodus or to prevent churches from becoming empty, priests resort to such gimmicks. It is Clarified that the Catholic Church has at no time claimed that what happened in Irla was a miracle. In such cases the Church is always cautious. Any extraordinary event is carefully studied, the advise of experts sought and established norms are strictly observed before pronouncing a judgment on any such event.The FIR is filed by a group of individuals who have felt offended by the above-mentioned statements and have done so of their own accord, in no way claiming to represent the mind of the Catholic Church of Bombay or of the Archbishop of Bombay.
In keeping with the Christian spirit of peace and reconciliation. Cardinal Gracias appeals to Mr. Sanal Edamarukun to issue an apology for having hurt the sentiments of the people by these statements and he appeals to those who filed the FIR to accept this apology and to withdraw the FIR.