The Oasis International Foundation is an interfaith foundation established in 2004. It was based on an idea of Cardinal

Angelo Scola Angelo Scola (; born 7 November 1941) is an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Catholic Church, philosopher and theologian. He was Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 2011 to 2017. He served as Patriarch ...

to promote mutual knowledge and understanding between

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, with special focus on the reality of Christian minorities in predominantly Muslim countries. Oasis relies on a network of international contacts. In addition to Cardinal Scola its Promotional Committee includes Patriarch

Bechara Boutros al-Rahi Bechara Boutros Al-Ra'i (or Raï; ; ; ) (born 25 February 1940) is the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since 15 March 2011, succeeding Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. Rahi was mad ...

(Lebanon), Cardinals

Philippe Barbarin Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin (born 17 October 1950) is a French Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 2002 to 2020. He was made a cardinal in 2003. He was convicted in 2019 of failing to report alleged sex ...

(Lyon), Josip Bozanic (Zagreb),

Péter Erdő Péter Erdő (, ; born 25 June 1952) is a Hungarian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church who has served as the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and primate (bishop), Primate of Hungary si ...

(Budapest),

Christoph Schönborn Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Schönborn, OP (; born 22 January 1945) is a Bohemian-born Austrian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Vienna from 1995 until 2025. He was chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conferen ...

(

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

), Patriarch

Fouad Twal Fouad Twal (; born 23 October 1940 in Madaba, Jordan) is a Jordanian Catholic prelate who served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 2008 to 2016. He has also served as the Grand Prior of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusa ...

(

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) and Bishops

Camillo Ballin Camillo Ballin (June 24, 1944 – April 12, 2020) was an Italian-Bahraini Catholic bishop, writer, missionary, and educator who was the Vicar Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia. Family and early life Camillo Ballin, son of L ...

(Kuwait), Mounged El-Hachem (Nuncio in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Paul Hinder Paul Hinder, OFMCap (born 22 April 1942) is a Swiss Catholic bishop. He is the Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia. Bishop Hinder was previously appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop in the former Apostolic Vic ...

(Emirates),

Jean-Clément Jeanbart Jean-Clément Jeanbart (born 3March 1943) is a Melkite archbishop, who currently serves as the Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo and Apostolic Visitor in Western Europe of the Greek Melkites. Life Jeanbart was born on ...

(Alep), Maroun Lahham (

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

), Anthony Lobo (

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

), Francisco Javier Martínez (

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

) and Joseph Powathil (

Changanacherry Changanassery, () formerly Changanacherry, is a municipality in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is located south of the district headquarters in Kottayam and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 I ...

). The scientific committee includes Islam experts, philosophers, sociologists, historians and legal experts.

Resources

Oasis is part of the

Studium Generale Marcianum The Studium Generale Marcianum was a complex of educational institutions established in Venice in 2004 by the Patriarchate of Venice to provide educational services at all levels from secondary school through post-graduate programs, including a fac ...

, the educational-academic department of the

Patriarchate of Venice The Patriarchate of Venice (; ), also sometimes called the Archdiocese of Venice, is a patriarchate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the Metropolitan City of Venice. Its Cathedra, episcopal seat is in the St Mark's Basilica ...

. Over the years it has developed a variety of resources: * A journal also called ''Oasis'' that is published twice a year in four bilingual editions: Italian-Arabic, English-Arabic, French-Arabic and English-Urdu. In print since 2005, it is available by subscription in Italy but can be purchased in selected bookstores. * A website which offers weekly Arabic translations of the Pope's catecheses. * A monthly newsletter * Two book series, a scientific series and one for the general public, published by Marcianum Press; among the books published: ''La promessa'' (''The Promise'') by Card

Jean-Marie Lustiger Jean-Marie Aron Lustiger (; 17 September 1926 – 5 August 2007) was a French cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 1981 until his resignation in 2005. He was made a cardinal in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. His lif ...

; ''Cristiani e musulmani, fratelli davanti a Dio?'' (''Christian and Muslims, Brothers in the Eyes of God?''), by Father Christian Van Nispen; and ''Dove guarda l'Indonesia?''. ''Cristiani e musulmani nel paese del sorriso'' (''Whither Indonesia? Christians and Muslims in the Land of Smiles''), by Maria Laura Conte, winner of the 2006 Premio Capri (Capri Prize), in the current affairs section. ''Meticciato. Convivenza o confusione? ( Métissage. Coexistence or confusion?''),Paolo Gomarasca, 2009.

Research areas

Oasis’ main areas of research are: cultural and civilisational métissage, a notion that seeks to explain the ongoing process of mixing of cultures and spiritual experiences; the cultural heritage of Eastern Christian minorities; the various grassroots forms of Islam as expressions of a type of religiosity that is truly indispensable to understand Muslim societies, past and present; religious freedom seen from a legal perspective but also as a privileged path to grasp the theoretical connection between truth and freedom. For Oasis, bearing witness is a decisive notion in

interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue, also known as interreligious dialogue, refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religion, religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spirituality, spiritual or humanism, hum ...

when understood as an adequate means to access the truth. Oasis is based in Venice and was presented to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in Paris (2005) and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(2007). The Centre organises each year a plenary meeting, alternating between Venice (2005, 2007 and 2009) and a location in a predominantly Muslim country,

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

(2006) and

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

(2008).

External links

* {{official website, http://www.oasiscenter.eu/en/ Catholicism and Islam Christian and Islamic interfaith dialogue