The world’s oldest person, the Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died Wednesday at the age of 116, after hardly surviving infant and attributing her long life to God, said her order and two long life.

The title is now transferred to Ethel Caterham, a resident of Surrey, England, who is 115 years old, according to the American Gerontological Research Group (GRG) and the Longeviquest database.

Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro became the world’s oldest person after death in January by Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who was also aged 116.

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

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

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

Canabarro had attributed his lifetime to God and said, “He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” according to Lingviquest.

For her 110 -year birthday, she received a blessing from Pope Francis, who died last Monday aged 88 years.

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

Lingviquest said that Canabarro had been the 15th-old documented person in history, and the second best nun after France’s Lucile Randon, who lived at the age of 118 and died in 2023.