Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a soccer-loving nun from Brazil who was believed to be the oldest person in the world and whose longevity had been celebrated by Pope Francis, died on Wednesday, her religious congregation, the Irmãs Teresianas Brasil, said.
She was 116 years old and would have turned 117 in a few more weeks, according to the Irmãs Teresianas, which translates to “Teresian Sisters.” She had been living at a retirement home in the city of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil.
In a social media post, her congregation gave thanks for her life of service and dedication, and asked the Lord to “welcome her into his infinite love.” Irmãs Teresianas did not give a cause of death, but her family told the Brazilian television station RBS TV that she had died of old age.
While her sight and hearing diminished toward the end of her life, she avoided surgery until a cataract procedure when she was 106, Sister Rita Fernandes Barbosa, the congregation’s provincial coordinator, told the station earlier this year.
In January, Guinness World Records declared Sister Inah the world’s oldest living person after the death of Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was born before the start of World War I and the sinking of the Titanic. She was also 116.
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In the year Sister Inah was born, the Model T was introduced by Henry Ford. Insulin had not yet been discovered, and the world’s first demonstration of a television was still several years away.
