Vatican City, Mar 8, 2016 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The concept of mercy is not easy for Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, a Filipina activist who has suffered a series of trials through her life, including imprisonment with her own children.

Yet she believes the courage to go on amid adversity – and her ability to forgive – begin with mercy.

“Mercy is really about going beyond your own struggle, and your own pains, and your own disappointment,” Flores-Oebanda told CNA.

Vatican City, Mar 7, 2016 / 12:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met with leaders of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) on Saturday, praising their people's “tireless witnesses of hope” in Christ amid decades of hardships.

Vatican City, Mar 6, 2016 / 05:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday Pope Francis lamented the world’s indifference to the recent killing of four Missionaries of Charity, calling them the ‘martyrs of today’ and asking that Bl. Mother Teresa intercede in bringing peace.

 “I express my closeness to the Missionaries of Charity for the great loss that affected them two days ago with the killing of four religious in Aden, Yemen, where they assisted the elderly,” the Pope said March 6.

Vatican City, Mar 4, 2016 / 01:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Leading his annual penitential service on Friday, Pope Francis told attendees to stand tall and be open to forgiveness, and not to let themselves remain under the heavy burden of sin.

“Let us cast off...all that prevents us from racing towards him, unafraid of leaving behind those things which make us feel safe and to which we are attached,” the Pope said March 4.