Welcome to 2026.

Dear Inner Circle Member,

Welcome to 2026.

This is going to be an extraordinary year. The opening five days have already indicated how much will happen over the next 360.

President Donald J. Trump’s decision to use the US military to go into Venezuela has been the biggest single event of the new year so far. It has been a big shock to Moscow and Beijing – and of course all of Latin America.

Here in Switzerland, the big weekend news was the terrible fire at Cranston Montana in a bar filled with young people (you can drink beer at 16 in Switzerland). In a country of fewer than 10 million, having a fire kill 40 and injure more than 100 is a major crisis.

Our biggest event over the holiday was going to St. Peter’s Basilica for Christmas Eve Mass. We had the good fortune to be invited to come back before Mass and visit for about five minutes with Pope Leo XVI. We had a great conversation. He is an intelligent and confident person who has spent his lifetime in the service of God. He was clearly comfortable being the Vicar of Christ on Earth.