A canonical Fano threefold has Fano index $\le 66$

We show that the $\mathbb{Q}$-Fano index of a canonical weak Fano $3$-fold is at most $66$. This upper bound is optimal and gives an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Chengxi Wang in dimension $3$. During the proof, we establish a new Riemmann–Roch formula for canonical $3$-folds and provide a detailed study of non-isolated singularities on canonical Fano $3$-folds, concerning both their local and global properties. Our proof also involves a Kawamata–Miyaoka type inequality and geometry of foliations of rank $2$ on canonical Fano $3$-folds.