The Spanish Maria Branyas, born in the United States and considered the oldest living person in the world at the age of 117, has passed away, her family announced on Tuesday.

In a post on Branyas' account on "X," her family wrote in Catalan: "Maria Branyas has left us. She departed the way she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully, and without pain."

The Gerontology Research Group, which verifies details of people believed to be 110 years old or more, listed Branyas as the world's oldest known person following the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year.

The next oldest person listed by the Gerontology Research Group is now Tomiko Itoka from Japan, who is 116 years old.

Branyas was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907. After living for years in New Orleans, where her father founded a magazine, her family returned to Spain when she was young. Branyas said she has memories of crossing the Atlantic Ocean during World War I.

Her account on X is called "The Super Catalan Grandma" and carries the description: "I am old, very old, but I am not foolish."

At the age of 113, Branyas tested positive for COVID-19 during the global pandemic, but she avoided severe symptoms that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of elderly Spaniards.

At the time of her death, she was living in a care home in the Catalan city of Olot.

Her family wrote that Branyas told them days before her passing: "I don't know when, but this long journey will end very soon. Death will find me worn out from all this living, but I want to meet him with a smile, feeling free and content."