Sister Inah Canabarro, from Brazil, tops the list of the world’s oldest living people, at almost 117 years old.

MIAMI — A Brazilian nun with a passion for soccer has reportedly become the world’s oldest living person, at nearly 117, following the recent death of a Japanese woman.

Sister Inah Canabarro was so thin growing up that many didn’t think she would survive childhood, Cleber Canabarro, her 84-year-old nephew, told the Associated Press.

LongeviQuest, an organization that tracks supercentenarians around the world, released a statement Saturday declaring that the wheelchair-bound nun is the world’s oldest person, validated by childhood records.

In a video shot by the organization last February, the smiling Canabarro can be seen making jokes, sharing miniature paintings she used to make with wildflowers and reciting the Hail Mary prayer.

The secret to longevity? Her Catholic faith, she said.

“I am young, pretty and friendly – ​​all these very good and positive qualities that you have too,” the Teresian nun tells visitors to her retirement home in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil.

Her nephew spends time with her every Saturday and sends her voice messages between visits to keep her spirits up after two hospitalizations that left her weak, with difficulty speaking.

“The other sisters say she is shaken when she hears my voice,” he said. “She’s excited.”

Canabarro was born June 8, 1908, into a large family in southern Brazil, according to LongeviQuest researchers. But her nephew said her birth was registered two weeks late and she was actually born on May 27. His great-grandfather was a famous Brazilian general who took up arms during the turbulent period following Brazil’s independence from Portugal in the 19th century.

She began religious work while still a teenager and spent two years in Montevideo, Uruguay, before moving to Rio de Janeiro and eventually settling in her home state of Rio Grande do Sul. A lifelong teacher, among her former students was General Joao Figueiredo, the last of the military dictators who ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985. She was also the beloved creator of two marching bands in schools in the Twin Cities straddling the border between Uruguay and Brazil. .

On her 110th birthday, she was honored by Pope Francis. She is the second oldest nun ever documented, after Lucile Randon, who was the world’s oldest person until her death in 2023 at the age of 118.

Local football club Inter, founded after Canabarro’s birth, celebrates the birthday of its oldest supporter every year. His room is decorated with gifts in the team’s red and white colors, his nephew said.

“White or black, rich or poor, whoever you are, Inter is the people’s team,” she said in a video posted on social media celebrating her 116th birthday with the club president.

Canabarro took the title of oldest living person after the death of Japan’s Tomiko Itooka in December, according to LongeviQuest. She is now the 20th oldest documented person to have ever lived, topped by Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122, according to LongeviQuest.