The El Dorado International Airport chapel’s closing was bemoaned by Juan Vicente Córdoba, the bishop of Fontibón, Colombia, who said that those responsible “had to give an account to God” despite a contract that stated it would remain open until 2037.
The airport is situated in Fontibón, a neighbourhood of Bogotá.
The closing of the Catholic chapel and its transformation into a “place for neutral meditation” for all faiths were both announced on August 26 by OPAIN, the private business that operates Colombia’s major airport.
“There was no conversation. The contract states until 2037, but because they are autonomous, they are free to revoke it.
However, they also had the option of leaving the agreement in place, the bishop stated in a video broadcast on the diocese’s website on August 29.
“Regarding the El Dorado Airport terminal chapel that was closed, there are two actors,” the prelate said.
“The Secretariat of the Government of the Bogotá Mayor’s Office [directed by Mayor Claudia López] made the request and notified OPAIN, which is the second actor, to get the Catholic Church out of there and apportion it to all religions.”
The bishop of Fontibón said that while the firm had the option of allowing the chapel to remain, “it ended up tossing us out and throwing out the Catholic Church.” Córdoba claimed that “OPAIN cooperated with that notice and alerted us that we had to go.”
“What’s different is that they’re going to give all faiths an additional hour and give us an hour [each day to perform Mass]. We needed to remove everything.
We left because they ordered us to, they didn’t want to speak to us, they kept telling us to go after our meeting, which was only a notification to us, he said.
The Mayor’s Office’s Secretariat of Government was the one who requested them to get us out, the bishop said, adding that “OPAIN was the one who got us out.”
He highlighted that “OPAIN and its board of directors might have left us there,” adding that “both of them had to do with the withdrawal of the Catholic Church from the airport.”
The bishop emphasised that the church is protesting the eviction since shutting the chapel prevents it from “evangelising and attending to individuals who want to come close to the peace of God at an airport, but they can’t do it because there are some who said no.”
The bishop added, “Those who said no, must account to God.”