Sister Andre, world's oldest person dies at 118

French nun Sister Andre, the world's oldest person, has passed away at 118 in France, her retirement home said. 

She died in her sleep at her nursing home in Toulon, spokesperson David Tavella said on Tuesday. 

"There is great sadness but... it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it's a liberation," Tavella, of the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home, said. 

Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, had survived Covid last year.

She was born on February 11, 1904, and was the world's oldest living person according to the Gerontology Research Group's World Supercentenarian Rankings List.

Randon was born in the year New York opened its first subway and when the Tour de France had only been staged once.

Her days in the nursing home were punctuated by prayer, mealtimes and visits from residents and hospice workers.