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BEIJING, Aug. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "'Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China.' These lyrics succinctly capture the fundamental reason why China has achieved unprecedented progress in human history," Argentine Ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

The Ambassador said one thing that impressed him the most in China was the moment when he heard the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" at Tiananmen Square one early morning at a ceremony marking the centenary of the founding of the CPC in 2021, because the lyrics also expressed his true feelings. Narvaja said he was impressed by China's admirable economic, technological, and social development particularly in relation to people's livelihoods over the last decade, especially in its efforts to reduce poverty and address the inequities brought about by development.

When speaking of the ambassador, many Chinese people are instantly curious about his Chinese name, Niu Wangdao. Why does an ambassador from Latin America have such a bookish Chinese name? How does his Chinese name Niu Wangdao express his feelings and thoughts about China?

Narvaja told the Global Times that before coming to China, he had noticed that many Chinese immigrants in Latin America gave themselves a Spanish name to facilitate communication with the locals, which he believed is a friendly move. Therefore, after coming to China as ambassador, he decided to take a Chinese name to express his goodwill to China. So, the name "Wangdao" occurred to him.

He revealed that he chose this name for two reasons. First, it was from the name of Chen Wangdao - the first person who translated The Communist Manifesto into Chinese. "I am very interested in how China integrates its own theories with Marxism, which is what you call the 'Sinicization of Marxism.'"

The Argentine diplomat recalled that Chen Wangdao played an important role and has historical significance in China and for the CPC. Chen and other young people at that time launched an ideological debate, thus creating the prelude to a major change in China.

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Additionally, "dao" is also the abbreviation of "Taoism" in Chinese traditional culture. In Narvaja's view, "Wangdao" also has the meaning of "focusing on the road underfoot," which also coincides with his interest in exploring the developmental paths of various countries.

Narvaja was born in Cuba where he spent his childhood before returning to Argentina after finishing primary school.

"My experience in Cuba was my first approach to communism, and it also made me understand communism differently from many Westerners. So I always say, you have to experience it firsthand to really understand communism and socialist systems," he said.

His interest in communism, which was "ignited" by Cuba, further grew in the research and exploration of China, because in his opinion, China is one of the most successful socialist countries. After returning to Argentina, he studied a lot of courses related to China ranging from China's national conditions and economy to China's development model. He even studied China in graduate school.

"Long before I came to China as an ambassador, I had started researching this eastern country. I'm particularly interested in how the country has made such marvelous achievements in such a short period of time, especially since the CPC came to power in China." He told the Global Times that he has published many academic works on China's development, the latest of which is on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Narvaja became the Argentine Ambassador to China in April 2021. In just a little more than a year since his arrival, he has traveled to more than 20 provinces in China and said that he was "deeply impressed" by the diversity and rapid development of China, which has also helped him accumulate rich firsthand information for his exploration and research on China.

"I used to study the BRI, but now I have become a participant in promoting Argentina's participation in the BRI. It was very exciting for me because I could see my ideas slowly become reality," he said.

"Under the leadership of the CPC, China's economic and social development in the last decade has been admirable," the ambassador noted to the Global Times, when talking about his experience of visiting various places in China.

He stressed that China's development and change have been remarkable over the last decade under the leadership of Xi Jinping, especially in the field of science and technology. "China has been at the forefront of the world in electronic communications, 5G, and other fields. The aircraft carriers' development has made breakthroughs, and it has also made breakthroughs in the field of aviation." Among the series of changes in China, the diplomat particularly appreciated China's effort in poverty alleviation. "It is an extremely positive thing to lift hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty, which is not only of great significance to China, but also a major contribution to the world," he said.

In his view, this showed that China began to solve the problem of imbalanced development after a period of rapid development, through means such as making use of the development of the eastern coastal areas to drive the prosperity of the relatively underdeveloped western region of the country.

"I see the great determination of the Chinese government and President Xi to reduce inequality and address the imbalance of development. Development always brings about the gap between the rich and the poor, but China is working very hard to solve it. This is very meaningful work," he said.

Narvaja told the Global Times that he has had many memorable experiences during his time as an ambassador in China, but the most memorable was hearing the lyrics "Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China" in July 2021.

"I was in Tiananmen Square on July 1, 2021, while participating in a ceremony marking the centenary of the founding of the CPC. I remember that morning, there were chants of 'without the Communist Party, there would be no new China' all over the square. This song strongly grabbed my attention," the Argentine diplomat recalled.

"I especially like this line of lyrics, because it explains why China has made such unprecedented achievements in human history, and why China has changed from a feudal society to an advanced country."

These lyrics have since often echoed in Narvaja's mind. In February, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez was invited to visit China. After the meeting between President Xi and President Fernandez, Narvaja, who listened to the conversations between the two leaders on China's development and cooperation, once again thought of the lyrics "Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China."

"I have met President Xi a few times before, and I think he is a very kind, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable person. So I couldn't help but read the lyrics to him, 'Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China.' He smiled at me very happily. I was also very happy because I expressed my truest feelings," Narvaja recalled to the Global Times with a smile.

The ambassador stressed that it is a misconception that a particular development model can be used universally. He said that what development model a country should adopt is determined by that country's own history and its people.

"Demonizing communism is essentially reviving the misconceptions of the Cold War, which artificially divided the world into 'good' and 'bad.' It's downright wrong and it's sparking conflicts," said the ambassador. "For human beings, there is nothing better than diversity. We should respect the different political and organizational forms in different countries. Only in this way will the world be more diverse and people's minds become richer."

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'Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China' lyric reveals how China achieved tremendous achievement: Argentine Ambassador to China -...

Bilkis Bano was five-months pregnant when she was attacked by a Hindu mob in 2002 as anti-Muslim violence gripped the western Indian state of Gujarat. Bano, then 21 years old, was gang-raped by sword-wielding men from her neighborhood. Fourteen of her family members were killed, including her 3-year-old daughter, who was snatched from her arms and bashed against a rock.

A few days ago, on the 15th of August, 11 men serving a life sentence for the crimes were released from prison on remission by the Gujarat state government, sparking widespread outrage and an emotional appeal for justice from Bano.

In a message posted on social media, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wrote: CPI(M) strongly condemns Gujarat Govt remission of life sentence given to gangrapists and killers of 2002 genocide in the Bilkis Bano case. This is the real face of New India convicted killers and rapists released. Activist Teesta who fought for justice was jailed.

"This reveals the true face of the India that the BJP wants to create. If our women are neither secure, respected or feeling free, then we are all, as a country or society, not free", CPI (M) Secretary General Sitaram Yechury commented on Twitter. In an article published on NDTV, CPI (M) Politburo member Brinda Karat asked for the intervention of Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah.

In a statement, the All India Working Women Forum of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) points out:

"All India Working Women Forum of AITUC registers the most vehement condemnation on the release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano. Gujarat government has released the 11 criminals serving life sentence for the heinous crimes of rape and murder in the infamous Bilkis Bano gang rape case. The release that was recommended by the committee under the Gujarat remission policy is in violation of the Union Governments guidelines for remission.These guidelines exclude those who are convicted for rape and murder for the benefit of remission.They, in any yardstick, do not deserve consideration for early release. AIWWF AITUC, while condemning the release, very strongly urges upon the Union government to intervene to withdraw the release of these convicts rapists and murderers.

In a weird dichotomy of sorts the Prime Minister, in his Independence day address from the ramparts of the red fort, talks of respecting narishakthi, on the same day his own party led government releases the rapists. The Machiavellian manoeuvres of the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi scale newer heights day by day. Deceptive double talk of beti bachao is flagrantly exposed yet again. This release is a double jeopardy of gender and religion. Odious blend of gender prejudice and communal hatred of the Hindutva ideology has reached a crescendo. Yet, the Prime Minister masquerades as the messiah of the masses shamelessly. Nothing that happens is casual. Everything is conscientiously done with the particular knowledge of the Prime Minister. This is dangerous for the country. The Prime Minister must take the moral responsibility and owe an apology to the nation before setting right the wrong done in the release of the criminals.

Ironically this is the real face of the New India that Mr Modi boasts of. This is indeed a disgraced and ignominious reality that India is dishonourably faced with. The premature release of the rapists brings more outrage now than the wretched pain and desolate anguish of the blood curdling act of gang rape of Bilkis Bano, a pregnant woman and the brutal killing of her family including her three year old daughter. This release is an affront against the doctrine of justice and a slur on the constitutional commitment to protect women. All India Working Women Forum of AITUC terms the release of the rapists and murders as shameful, outrageous and condemnable and demands immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the release and reincarceration of the criminals."

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India - Bilkis Bano case: Communists vehemently condemn the release of rapists and murderers - In Defense of Communism

I am in favour of providing good quality history education, whether it is an exhibition, a book, a historical comic book or a film. My biggest fear is that we will spend a lot of money on making billboard campaigns, producing comic books that nobody reads or films that nobody watches, and we will not take care of their quality says Robert Kostro, historian, columnist and director of the Polish History Museum.

TVP WEEKLY: Why has the history not ended?

ROBERT KOSTRO: After the collapse of communism, in the 1990s, Francis Fukuyamas theory about the end of history was fashionable. In fact, it had good grounds. It seemed that the great conflict tearing the world apart, the conflict between democracy and communism, was finally over and won by the democratic world. At the turn of the twentieth century, there were no revolutionary ideas to be seen in Europe since at least the French Revolution.

These were calmer times, and before that virtually every generation had experienced war.

Conflicts and revolutions happened relatively often. Look at the 19th century: first the Napoleonic Wars, the 1830 revolutions in France, Belgium, the Revolutions of 1848, the Franco-Austrian War, the Crimean War, the Russo-Turkish Wars, the uprisings in Poland, Greece, Italy. Throughout the 19th century Europe was buzzing with ideas that sought to transform its political, economic and social space. First there were liberal ideas, then socialist ideas, and finally nationalist ideas. In the first half of the 20th century, we had two world wars, the Russian Revolution, fascist movements and Nazism. By contrast, the 1990s in Europe, apart from the Balkans, were characterised by a sense of stability. It seemed that Poland, having joined the EU and NATO, would be secure for decades. However, this has changed.

But not right away. When did it start?

The first shock was the attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001. The war on terror was a new impetus. At first it seemed that this threat was far away from Europe and from Poland. Indeed, a great historical acceleration has taken place in the last seven-eight years. The revolutions in North African and Middle Eastern countries brought hope rather than anxiety. So did the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, but starting with the refugee crisis, problems began. Armed conflicts began to erupt closer and closer to us: Russias war with Georgia, war in Donbas, and finally the war in Ukraine, which has been going on since February, practically just beyond our borders, finally convinced us that history has not ended yet.

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By Tomasz Plaskota

Translated by jz

source:weekly.tvp.pl

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Poles are interested in history. After all, it is the key to understanding today's reality - TVP World

Originally published by Gatestone Institute

Commentary

Promoting the great unity of the Chinese people is the historic responsibility of Chinas patriotic united front work in the new era,saidChinese ruler Xi Jinping at the end of last month to Communist Party cadres in Beijing. To do the job well, we must truly unite all Chinese people in different parties, nationalities, classes, groups, and with different beliefs, and those who are living under different social systems.

Different social systems is Party lingo for other countries.

Xis words sound benign, but the intent is not. In short, Xi, at the Partys United Front Work Conference, said he hoped to unitein other words, mobilizeethnic Chinese everywhere to support the CCP, to effectively make every Chinese individual a CCP agent.

The Chinese Communist Party just doesnt accept that people who adopt foreign citizenship are no longer beholden to the motherland as represented by the Chinese Communist Party,saidCharles Burton of the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute to CBS Eye on the World on Aug. 17. There is no escape from this ethnic identification based on being descendants of the Yellow Emperor.

Xis predecessors also appealed to overseas Chinese, so in one sense there was nothing new in his words last month. Yet there is nonetheless cause for great concern. Mao Zedong in fact tried to use ethnic Chinese populations outside China to overthrow their governments. Xi reveres Mao, has adopted many of Maos tactics, and is surely as determined as Mao in using Chinese people to do his bidding. Xi is serious in seeing all the worlds Chinese as a single unified force.

Many of those different social systemsespecially the United Statesare squeamish when it comes to singling people out because of their race. Yet American policymakers cannot ignore the fact that the Communist Partys appeal to overseas Chinese is overtly race-based.

We all share the same ancestors, history, and culture, we all are sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and descendants of the dragon,saidYang Jiechi, now Chinas top diplomat, in 2013 to a group of overseas ethnic Chinese children attending a government-sponsored roots-tracing tour event.

The regime sponsors these tours to indoctrinate. Foreign children, in Taishan in Guangdong Province during a tour late last decade, were asked to sing the 1980s-era Descendants of the Dragon. The appeal to race is unmistakable, as this portion of the lyrics makes clear: With brown eyes, black hair, and yellow skin, we are forever descendants of the dragon.

In fact, Chinas regime asks, cajoles, threatens, and intimidates dragon descendants to commit crimes for the Motherland. As successful American prosecutions indicate, some ethnic Chinese are especially susceptible to those appeals.

In February, however, the Justice Department ended its Trump-era China Initiative, which concentrated law enforcement efforts on Chinese espionage. Yet given Xi Jinpings call on overseas Chinese to work for China, it is time to reinstitute that program and devote more resources to it.

Many have called the initiative racist, but any new program would be merely responding to the Communist Partys race-based appeals.

The overwhelming majority of Americans of Chinese descentespecially those who have fled China recentlyare loyal to America, but some Chinese in America flaunt their support for Chinese communism. The flying of flags of the Peoples Republic of China in Chinatowns across the United Statesespecially San Franciscos before the pandemicwas particularly disturbing and suggestive of disloyalty to the American republic.

Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China? No.

Chinas Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and every other society. The Chinese regime, especially in recent years under General Secretary Xi, has been pushing the notion that it holds the Mandate of Heaven to ruletianxia, All Under Heaven. The promotion oftianxiameans, among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as illegitimate and America as nothing more than a tributary society or colony.

To make matters worse, the Chinese state has been open about its hostility to the United States. Among other things, in May 2019Peoples Daily, the Partys self-described mouthpiece and therefore most authoritative publication in China, declared a peoples war on America.

Let me end on a personal note, as dragon blood proudly flows in my veins. My dad, who arrived in this country in early 1945, came from a small farming village in Jiangsu Province, across the mighty Yangtze River from Shanghai. My mothers family traces its roots to Dundee, in Scotland, but I have not identified with that half of my heritage. I grew up in New Jersey, steeped in Dads stories of the Yellow Emperor and of course tales of dragons.

Nonetheless, my story-telling dad never missed an opportunity to vote or tell his four children how wonderful his adopted country was. He always said China is my birthplace but America is my home.

We Chinese-AmericansI abhor the termneed to remember where we now live. We cannot remain oblivious, as we so far have had the luxury of doing.

Although we technically do not have an obligation to prove our loyalty to America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is trying to weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a subversive force, to help him destroy the country we now call home.

It is time, therefore, for us to begin cleaning our own ranks. This means, among other things, not tolerating displays promoting Chinese communism in our country. Moreover, it means not shouting racism every time law enforcement arrests someone of Chinese descent. If we do not take the lead in these tasks, others will naturally do that for us.

We may think it unfair, but we now have to make a choice.

After all, our countrythe United States of Americais in peril because a foreign statethe Peoples Republic of Chinais attacking it and hoping to use us to take it down.

The Communist Party of China refers to us as overseas patriotic forces. People in our communities will want to know to which country we feel patriotic.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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Gordon G. Chang is a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a member of its Advisory Board, and the author of The Coming Collapse of China.

Original post:
China Is Weaponizing Chinese Worldwide to Support the CCP - The Epoch Times

A Mass at Westminster Cathedral in London, England, marking the opening of the synod on synodality on Oct. 16, 2021. Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

The Vatican on Friday will unveil plans for the second phase of the Churchs discernment process, leading to the 2023 synod on synodality in Rome.

The details will be presented at a press conference by Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, general rapporteur of next years gathering of the worlds bishops on the theme For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.

The two-year initiative is entering what the Vatican calls the continental phase. In the first stage - the diocesan phase - organizers were given the task of consulting as many Catholics as possible in a brief period at the tail end of a pandemic.

The second stage will present a different challenge: identifying concerns that are shared by Catholics living in vastly different national settings.

Synod organizers on the seven inhabited continents - North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania - may struggle to pick out themes that unite Catholics separated by borders, cultures, and vast distances.

In Europe, some observers believe that Church leaders overseeing the continental phase will find it hard to reconcile the contrasting priorities of Catholics living in the East and West of the continent.

How difficult will it be? The Pillar takes a look.

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Most people accept that Europes 44 countries can be divided into two broad categories: East and West.

That division is rooted in recent political history as much as it is in geography. Eastern countries are generally defined as those that belonged to the Communist Bloc. So someone living in Prague, capital of the former Czechoslovakia, might be called Eastern European, even though they live further west than a Western European resident of the Austrian capital Vienna.

The division of Europe into East and West is crude, but it is also useful because it highlights important differences between countries that experienced decades of communism and those where capitalism has held sway.

European Catholic communities that suffered under communism have evolved in different ways to those that passed through the 20th century without long-lasting state-sponsored persecution.

The divide between Catholics in Eastern and Western Europe can arguably be seen in responses to the German synodal way. The controversial initiative is expected to close next year with a call for radical changes to Church teaching, practice, and structures.

The Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Pulji said last year that the synodal ways proposals were alien to Catholics who had survived communism.

A Church that has weathered the challenge of communism does not have such exotic ideas. Indeed, such attitudes offend and astonish our believers, he commented. We cannot understand a Church in which sacrifice is a foreign word and there is a Jesus without a cross.

In former communist Poland, the bishops conference president issued a strongly worded 3,000-word critique of the synodal ways trajectory.

Let us avoid the repetition of worn-out slogans, and standard demands such as the abolition of celibacy, the priesthood of women, Communion for the divorced, and the blessing of same-sex unions, Archbishop Stanisaw Gdecki wrote in February.

The Nordic bishops - representing Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland - have also voiced concern about the German process. But Church leaders in more populous Western European countries, such as the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain, have not made comparable official statements.

The Vatican asked the worlds bishops conferences to submit a document summarizing local synod discussions by Aug. 15. Several national episcopal conferences have missed that deadline.

Many Western European bishops conferences filed their submissions in time, including those in Belgium, England and Wales, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Switzerland. But several of Eastern European countries seem to have either overshot the deadline or submitted their reports to Rome without publicity.

At the time of writing, at least two former communist territories have published national synod syntheses - the Czech Republic and Lithuania - while many Polish dioceses have also issued reports.

Although there is a limited amount of material with which to make comparisons, the available texts do have a different feel to those of Western European countries.

Lithuanias national synthesis, for example, begins with a reflection on faith. While considering the various details of our Church life, we often forget the main condition - the need to constantly nurture our communio, our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, it says.

It voices concern about a lack of true community in the Church and calls for priests to make greater efforts to work with lay people, while sympathizing with the clergys struggles with loneliness and high expectations.

It concludes by identifying five priorities: to foster relations between clergy and laity; to build an open and responsible community; to help people to grow and develop in the Church; to not alienate people; and to be fully committed to being a synodal Church.

Compare this with the Irish Churchs synthesis, which begins by describing the impact of clerical abuse. It then sets out the case for co-responsible leadership, saying: Many people feel that decision-making and authority are exercised solely by priests and bishops. This power structure provokes discontent in them, frustration and anger with the processes of decision-making and exercise of authority at all levels in the Church.

The Irish report notes that there were calls from both young and older participants for optional celibacy, married priests, female priests, and the return of those who had left the priesthood to marry.

It also emphasizes that there was a clear, overwhelming call for the full inclusion of LGBTQI+ people in the Church.

Its tempting to conclude from this brief comparison that Eastern European submissions are concerned with matters of faith and community, while Western European ones are focused more on power structures and sexuality. But we would need to compare more documents to be able to assert this confidently.

Besides, concerns about the treatment of LGBT+ Catholics are not absent from diocesan stage reports in ex-communist countries.

The Polish Archdiocese of Pozna noted in its synthesis that according to a significant group of synod participants, the Churchs attitude toward LGBT+ people is inadequate: There is a lack of love of neighbor.

It observed that young people expressed their pain at the tough and sometimes even aggressive language of some clergy and laity toward LGBT+ people, although a very small group of participants expressed hope for a change in Church teaching.

It concluded: The majority of synod participants who spoke out made it clear that a change in language and attitudes toward these people is needed: We expect them to be treated with respect, compassion, and gentleness, just as the Catechism speaks of.

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Europes diocesan synod reports suggest that its helpful to make other distinctions, too beyond East and West.

There is also arguably a division between Catholics in northern and southern Europe. The German national synthesis report, for instance, has strikingly different concerns than that of Italy.

The German report concludes with this quotation:

If they wish to restore trust in the Church, the bishops need to take up a clear position on the pressing issues of our time, such as equal access for all baptized people to church offices, a reassessment of sexual morality, and a non-discriminatory approach to homosexual and queer people.

Taking up a clear position also means speaking a language that people can understand and that does not hide behind convoluted wording. As regards the abuse scandals, there needs to be an unambiguous acceptance of responsibility; power needs to be taken under control, and an attempt made to make amends to the victims of sexual and spiritual abuse.

The Italian report, meanwhile, makes only a glancing reference to LGBT+ people with their parents in a list of groups that are seeking greater inclusion in the Church.

It says that the local Church is too priest-centric and calls for a greater sharing of responsibilities between clergy and lay people. But it also notes that laity are not exempt from the risk of developing forms of clericalism in the management of the small spaces of power entrusted to them.

Moving beyond broad geographical distinctions, there are also cultural and linguistic divisions in the European Church.

The Swiss bishops conference noted in May that there were glaring differences within the Church in Switzerland itself. It contrasted the concerns of the countrys French and Italian speakers (sometimes called Latins) with those of German speakers.

In the reflection on the quality of synodical work, the spiritual concerns of Latin Switzerland, focused more on attitude, were supplemented with the observations and advice of German-speaking Switzerland, which are more structure-oriented, it said.

So we could compare the reports of Latin and Germanic countries, highlighting the spiritual concerns of the former and the latters emphasis on structural changes.

This might be a useful way of exploring the divisions within the European Church, but it also has its limitations. The national synthesis documents of France and Germany actually overlap at many points. Both are centered on the abuse crisis, governance issues, married priests, the role of women, divorce and remarriage, and homosexuality.

The various synod reports could also be sorted into those of core and periphery countries, with rich nations like France, Germany, and Austria on one side and poor ones such as Albania, Belarus, and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the other.

There are countless other ways to frame the divisions between European Catholics - which is not surprising when you consider that the continent has around 750 million inhabitants, about 200 languages, and some 160 distinct cultural groups.

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Fortunately, the participants in Europes continental phase will not be asked to draw common themes out of the national synthesis documents.

They will focus instead on the first edition of the synod on synodalitys instrumentum laboris, or working document, which will be produced by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and based on all the whole worlds national synthesis documents.

According to the Vaticans official handbook, each continent will produce a final document, inspired by the first instrumentum laboris, which will be used to draft a second working document for use at the bishops assembly in October 2023.

But as Europes Church leaders draft the final text, contrasting priorities will inevitably emerge. Will the document be able to reflect the desires of Western European Catholics without downplaying those of Eastern Europeans? Will it have a Latin or Germanic flavor? Will it lean towards the concerns of the core or the periphery?

According to the synod handbook, the group responsible for the continent-wide meeting will be the Council of European Bishops Conferences (CCEE). Thats a good sign because the CCEE is a truly representative organization. It has 39 members, including not only national bishops conferences but also lesser-known bodies such as the Eparchy of Mukachevo (in western Ukraine) and the Diocese of Chiinu (based in Moldova).

The CCEEs president is the (U.S.-born) Lithuanian Archbishop Gintaras Gruas. Its vice presidents are the Serbian Bishop Ladislav Nemet and Luxembourgs Cardinal Hollerich, who is also a pivotal figure in the synod on synodalitys third and final stage. So the CCEEs leadership has a good balance between different geographical regions.

Will the continental phase result in a final document that equally delights French traditionalists, German synodal way participants, and Ukrainian Catholics living in bomb shelters?

That is probably impossible.

But it will be worth watching how the documents drafters navigate the many fault lines of European Catholicism, and what viewpoints on the continent take centerstage.

The rest is here:
Can the synodal process overcome Europe's East-West divide? - The Pillar