(Vatican Radio) A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied allegations that the Kremlin has collected compromising information about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The comments came after Moscow already denied any involvement in a cyber hacking and propaganda campaign to influence the recent presidential elections in the United States. Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: "Pulp fiction". That's how Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describes claims that Russia has compromising personal and financial information about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. In a statement, Pescklov said the allegations are aimed at harming bi-lateral relations between the U.S. and Russia.Even President Elect Trump reacted. He used social networking service Twitter to rubbish the allegations saying in one messages: "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I have nothing to do with Russia – No deals, no loans, no nothing."U.S. intelligence ...
(Vatican Radio) A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied allegations that the Kremlin has collected compromising information about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The comments came after Moscow already denied any involvement in a cyber hacking and propaganda campaign to influence the recent presidential elections in the United States.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
"Pulp fiction". That's how Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describes claims that Russia has compromising personal and financial information about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
In a statement, Pescklov said the allegations are aimed at harming bi-lateral relations between the U.S. and Russia.
Even President Elect Trump reacted. He used social networking service Twitter to rubbish the allegations saying in one messages: "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I have nothing to do with Russia – No deals, no loans, no nothing."
U.S. intelligence agencies are reported to have presented a classified report about the material, obtained by Russian agents, to both Trump and the outgoing president, Barack Obama.
'FAKE NEWS'
After news reports were published about the briefing, Trump tweeted: "FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!"
It was attached to wider findings of alleged ongoing ties between Trump associates and the Kremlin and interference by Russia into the US election.
Though both Putin and Trump deny the allegations, the US intelligence community seems convinced about its finding.
James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, told the U.S. Senate’s Intelligence Committee: "We have high confidence that President Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election."
He added that the "goals of this campaign were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process."
Putin and the Russian government, he said, "also developed a clear preference for President-elect [Donald]) Trump.
Russia aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possibly by discrediting Secretary Clinton [as presidential candidate] and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him."
While several Republican and Democratic senators have expressed concern about the situation, possible closer ties between Trump and Putin are especially closely watched in former Soviet satellite states where officials fear it could harm their security.
San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller speaks to the press after the memorial Mass for the Guadalupe River flood victims on July 6, 2025. / Credit: Sophie AbuzeidHouston, Texas, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).Catholic leaders and government officials on Monday continued to issue statements of solidarity and support to victims of the catastrophic flash flooding in the Texas Hill Country over the weekend. The death toll rose to 94 Monday afternoon, according to county officials, with Camp Mystic, the girls' Christian camp devastated on July 4, confirming that 27 girls have perished, while 10 girls and a counselor from the camp are still unaccounted for.Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville held a memorial Mass for the flood victims on Sunday. Afterward, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller told CNA the Church is "listening to the cry of all those who suffer, and their cry is not falling on deaf ears."Worshippers pray at the Texas Hill Country flood victims' mem...
Mourners gather in the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, Damascus, for the funeral of many who lost their lives in a terrorist attack at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria's capital on Sunday, June 22, 2025. / Credit: Mohammad Al-Rifai/ACI MENAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 7, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).Allies of the new Syrian government and other non-state actors have continued violence and discrimination against Christians, Druze, and Shia Muslims, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).Syrian rebels, many of whom were affiliated with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in late 2024. The report notes that HTS members, many of whom were foreign fighters, engaged in mass killings and other forms of persecution against religious minorities during the overthrow of Assad and have continued violations after taking control of the government.Syria's new presid...
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches "to the heights." / Credit: Public domainVatican City, Jul 7, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).The coffin holding the incorrupt body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be in Rome for veneration during the Jubilee of Youth July 26 through Aug. 4.According to the Vatican's jubilee office, the coffin will be transferred from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, in the Italian region of Piedmont, to the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.Frassati, originally scheduled to be canonized on Aug. 3 during the Jubilee of Youth, will now be declared a saint by Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, Sept. 7, together with Blessed Carlo Acutis.Frassati's remains will be displayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome until Aug. 4 so that they can be venerated by young people attending jubilee events July 28 throu...
