Adolfo Nicolás

Who is Adolfo Nicolás?

Very Rev. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, S.J., S.T.D. is a Spanish priest of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the thirtieth and current Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church.

He has announced that he has met with Pope Francis, the world's Jesuit provincials, and with other Jesuits in positions under him at the headquarters, and he and they have begun to plan for an eventual general congregation that will replace him once he resigns, as he indicated he would prefer to do, at age 80. Until the resignation of his predecessor, the Very Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., it was not the norm for a Jesuit Superior General to resign; they, like the great majority of the Popes up until Benedict XVI, generally served until death. However, the Jesuit constitutions include provision for a resignation.