World’s oldest person dies at 116

The world’s oldest person, Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas has died at the age of 116.

Canabarro who had barely survived infancy attributed her long life to God, according to her order and two longevity trackers.

With Canabarro’s passage, the title of the oldest person has now passed to a resident of Surrey, England, Ethel Caterham who is 115 years old, according to the US Gerontological Research Group (GRG) and the LongeviQuest database.

Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro became the world’s oldest person following the death of a Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka in January, also at the age of 116.

The Congregation of Teresian Sisters of Brazil in Porto Alegre announced Canabarro’s passing on Wednesday in a statement where it gave thanks “for the dedication and devotion” she had shown in life.

LongeviQuest, in an obituary, said Canabarro had been a frail child, and “many doubted she would survive.”

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She became a nun in 1934 at the age of 26, between World Wars I and II.

Canabarro had attributed her longevity to God, “He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” according to LongeviQuest.

For her 110th birthday, she received a blessing from Pope Francis, who himself died Easter Monday at the age of 88.

Although she had claimed her date of birth was May 27, 1908, “her documented birth date according to records is June 8, 1908,” GRG director Robert Young told AFP in January.

LongeviQuest said Canabarro had been the 15th-oldest documented person in history, and the second-oldest nun after France’s Lucile Randon, who lived to the age of 118 and died in 2023.

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