ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Cyclone Gezani killed at least 36 people, injured more than 370 and destroyed almost 18,000 homes across Madagascar, authorities said Thursday.
Madagascar's president has declared a national disaster and made a plea for international leaders to help the largely poor Indian Ocean island.
The tropical cyclone made landfall late Tuesday and caused widespread destruction in the main port city of Toamasina on the east coast before tearing across the country.
The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said Thursday the death toll had risen to at least 36 while six people were missing. It said 374 people were injured and more than 250,000 people were affected by the storm.
Authorities said 32 of the deaths occurred in the Toamasina area, the country’s main port and an economic hub. President Michael Randrianirina said 75% of the city was damaged or destroyed.
Many of Madagascar's 31 million people live in houses that give inadequate shelter from strong storms and authorities said many of the deaths were caused by building collapses.
The disaster agency said 17,980 houses were destroyed and more than 37,000 others were damaged by Gezani, which brought winds in excess of 195 kph (121 mph).
Drone video released by the disaster agency showed the extent of the damage in Toamasina, home to more than 300,000 people. Almost every building sustained major damage by having their roofs or other parts of the structures ripped off. Many buildings were flattened completely, while trees were stripped bare or uprooted and left lying in roads across the city.
Residents trudged through floodwater that reached to their knees as they began to piece their lives back together.
“We can clearly see what Toamasina needs right now: above all, food, basic necessities, and building materials to quickly rebuild everything that has been destroyed in Toamasina and its surroundings,” Randrianirina said after he visited the city that took the brunt of the cyclone. He called on all of Madagascar's people to help with the recovery effort.
Madagascar, off Africa's east coast, is especially vulnerable to destructive storms that blow in off the Indian Ocean. It has been hit by more than a dozen cyclones or strong tropical storms since 2020.
A cyclone hit the northwest part of the island just last month, killing at least 14 people.
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People survey the damage done by cyclone Gezani in Toamasina, Madagascar, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hery Nirina Rabary)
People survey the damage done by cyclone Gezani in Toamasina, Madagascar, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hery Nirina Rabary)
People survey the damage done by cyclone Gezani in Toamasina, Madagascar, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hery Nirina Rabary)
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV lifted a wooden cross and held it aloft from his waist at the start of the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope has set out to carry the cross to every station.
“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”
Inside the Colosseum, Leo began the procession flanked by two young people holding torches, and followed by clergy.
At the first station, marking the moment Jesus was condemned to death, the meditation prepared especially for Leo's first Good Friday underlined that those with authority will have to answer to God for how they exercise their power.
"The power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge, or for reconciliation,'' read the meditation written by Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custodian of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites.
Thousands gathered outside the pagan monument, where the procession continued, following the stations as they were recited over loud speakers.
They included Sister Pelenatita Kieoma Finau from Samoa and a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.
"We have been part of our parish stations of the cross, but this is so exciting. It is very meaningful to have the experience of being with the people of Rome on this special occasion,'' she said.
John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.
For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.
Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.
Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.
The Way of the Cross commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.
“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”
At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.
On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a late night Easter vigil, during which he will baptize new Catholics, and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.
On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city of Rome and the world.
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Barry reported from Milan.
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful attend the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession led by Pope Leo XIV at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
