Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a Brazilian nun recognised as the world's oldest living person, died in Porto Alegre at age 116. She passed away at a residence operated by the Teresian Sisters, the religious community to which she belonged. Her family said she had not suffered a particular illness and that her body gradually ceased functioning.
Born on June 8, 1908, in Rio Grande do Sul, Canabarro entered a religious boarding school when she was 16 and became a nun in her early twenties. She spent time in Montevideo before taking her vows, then returned to Brazil in 1930. Her working life included teaching Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Rio de Janeiro.
Canabarro became the oldest living person in January 2025 after the death of Japan's Tomiko Itooka, also aged 116. Following Canabarro's death, the title passed to Ethel Caterham, a 115-year-old woman living in Surrey, England. Such designations depend on documented birth records and change when the previous holder dies.
Members of her community and family described a disciplined daily routine built around waking, meals, prayer and sleep at regular times. A coordinator at the home said her health had remained strong during nearly all of her long life and did not undergo surgery until a cataract operation when she was 106. Her hearing and sight weakened near the end of her life.
Faith was central to Canabarro's own explanation of her longevity. She had received a blessing from Pope Francis in 2018 and told others that her relationship with God sustained her. Another Teresian nun remembered her as grateful and good-humoured, while relatives and carers emphasised her sociability and consistent habits.
Football was her other well-known enthusiasm. She supported Sport Club Internacional of Porto Alegre, owned shirts and pillows bearing its insignia, and marked birthdays with cakes shaped like the club's stadium. At 116 she celebrated wearing an Internacional scarf. The club issued condolences and praised a life associated with kindness, faith and affection for the team.
Her nephew's account of a gradual physical decline contrasted with the absence of a specific terminal disease in the supplied report. That distinction matters when describing her death: no cause beyond age-related decline was announced.
Canabarro's life spanned more than a century of Brazilian social change, but the surviving portrait is personal: a teacher, nun, relative and sports supporter whose community linked her long life to discipline, work, prayer and companionship.
Her recognition also brought international attention late in life, but her community continued to describe her through longstanding relationships rather than the record alone. The details about teaching, prayer and football documented interests maintained across decades before longevity rankings made her name widely known.
