Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Lucile Randon, a French nun widely regarded as the world's oldest living person, has died at the age of 118, officials said.
Her death was announced Tuesday by Hubert Falco, the mayor of the southern French city of Toulon where she lived at the Saint-Catherine-Laboure nursing home since 2009.
"France is losing a nun with a big heart," he said in a statement on Twitter. "For my part, I lose a woman whom I esteemed deeply.
"I went to visit her regularly and I appreciated her humanity, her spirituality but also her sense of humor and the relevance with which she felt our time."
Randon died 2 p.m. Tuesday, according to her spokesman David Tavella, CNN reported.
"There is great sadness, but she wanted it to happen, it was her desire to join her beloved brother," he said. "For her, it is freedom."
Born Feb. 11, 1904, Randon, who has been known as Sister Andre since 1944, was verified by Guinness World Records in April as the world's oldest living person following the death of Kane Tanaka of Japan, who died that month at the age of 119.
The record-keeping organization said in a statement Tuesday that Randon was the second-oldest French person and the second-oldest European ever recorded.
The title of oldest person ever belongs to Jeanne Louise Calment, also of France, who died at the age of 122 in August of 1997.
Randon is also widely regarded as the oldest survivor of COVID-19, having contracted the virus in January 2021.
