A soccer-loving nun from Brazil tops list of world’s oldest living person at nearly 117

A soccer-loving nun from Brazil is believed to have become the world’s oldest living person at nearly 117 following the recent death of a woman from Japan.

A soccer-loving nun from Brazil is believed to have become the world’s oldest living person at nearly 117 following the recent death of a woman from Japan. Sister Inah Canabarro was so skinny 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 globe, released a statement on Saturday declaring the wheelchair-bound nun the world’s oldest person validated by early life records. In a video shot by the organization last February, the smiling Canabarro can be seen cracking jokes, sharing miniature paintings she used to make of wild flowers and reciting the Hail Mary prayer. The secret to longevity? Her Catholic faith, she says. “I’m young, pretty and friendly – all very good, positive qualities that you have too,” the Teresian nun tells the visitors to her retirement home in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.