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modernizing reforms.
• "The official end of the reform of the reform -- by example," ''Rorate Caeli" lamented in its report on Francis' Holy Thursday ritual.
• A like-minded commentator in Francis' native Argentina, Marcelo Gonzalez at International Catholic Panorama, reacted to Francis' election with this phrase: "The Horror." Gonzalez's beef? While serving as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's efforts to revive the old Latin Mass so dear to Benedict and traditionalists were "non-existent."
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Veterans groups say disability payments, pensions should be kept out of budget negotiations
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.
• Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.
• Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.
• "I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."
• Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.
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Images of Good Friday around the world
• Christians in Good Friday processions the world over bear crosses, wounds and prayers over a few blocks or many miles to reenact Jesus' suffering on the path to crucifixion. At the Vatican, Pope Francis lies down in prayer during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica. Hundreds of Christians stream through the (Continued on page 27)
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