The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka requested political leaders to save the country from being a failed state while Gnanartha Pradeepaya, a Catholic weekly blamed the situation on corruption which forced the country to borrow to buy essentials. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith blamed the situation on the political leaders and "us citizens who have allowed ourselves to be used by vested political and cultural interests in choosing the persons to whom we have entrusted the country and its destiny over all these years,”.