Ethel died Thursday morning as a result of complications related to the stroke she suffered last week ... the famous family just announced.

As we reported ... Ethel had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke in her sleep.

The Kennedys are remembering Ethel as "a devout Catholic and daily communicant."

Ethel had 11 children with RFK and was pregnant when he was assassinated in 1968, when he was running for president. Their children include Kathleen Kennedy, Joe Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

She was also the sister-in-law of former President John F. Kennedy ... who was also assassinated. A year after RFK's assassination, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights nonprofit in his honor.

Ethel received the Congressional Medal of Freedom back in 2014, when Barack Obama was president.

The Kennedys say they "are comforted in knowing she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie."

Ethel is survived by nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren.